While people were fixated on Pixar, here comes Fox News Corp., raking in the cash:
On the heels of a ubiquitous ad campaign and positive reviews, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! enjoyed the biggest debut of the year by taking in $45.1 million, according to studio estimates from box office trackers Nielsen EDI.
The haul was about $5 million more than projected and broke Disney's stranglehold on the top five openings for animated movies. 20th Century Fox's Horton took fifth place, behind Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Cars and Ratatouille ...
The effete snobs among us will sneer at anything not produced in Emeryville, but I'm telling you, the more studios that produce hits, the more work there is for everybody in animation.
Fox now has a string animated blockbusters behind it: Ice Age, Ice Age the Meltdown, The Simpsons Movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks. And now, Horton Hears a Who. Quite good for a company not called DreamWorks, Disney, or Pixar. And more power to it.
Somewhere in Beverly Hills tonight, Rupert is smiling.
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5 comments:
Kudos to Horton and Blue Sky! Definitely great news for animation fans. Maybe why Sony is double-thinking selling off their animation division.
I think a lot of the sneering at non-Pixar films had a lot to do with movies being released in recent years without regard to the story being good, thinking people would come out to see it just because it is CGI-animated. That definitely does not help the industry as it saturates the market with average movies and makes the suits think, "CGI animation isn't making as much money as it used to - fire all the animators!" when really, they needed to let their animators and artists work on a quality story.
I am glad to see there is the movement toward focusing more on story in animated movies now. Horton's RT rating is great, and Blue Sky is definitely making a name for itself as a premiere animation studio. And it will definitely keep audiences asking for more animated movies.
sadly its all about the pressure of week number 2.
i'll be sure to take my kids this week.
According to BoxOfficeMojo, the top 5 cartoon openings are:
1) Shrek 3
2) The Simpsons
3) The Incredibles
4) Finding Nemo
5) Ice Age 2
If you are only considering first-in-franchiase films, both Horton and Ratatouille are edged out by Madagascar and Shark Tale.
Steve, we're gonna need some clarification here please...I'm just not smart enough to figure this one out on my own:) I do understand we're talking about a good deal of cash though! Bob
I think Steve meant rated G movies.
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