Saturday, June 07, 2008

The Big Panda B.O.

The Panda has a solid Friday, earning $20 million...

Using the Koch Calculator (patent pending) this should project into an opening weekend total of $64 million and a TOTAL U.S./Canada gross of $244 million (give or take a few penny rolls).

(Wait two months, and we'll see if the Koch Calculator is firing on all cylinders, operating on all circuits, or ... whatever).

By way of comparison, Horton made $13.3 its opening Friday and $152.7 domestically overall, Bee Movie $10.2/126.6, Ratatouille $16.4/206.4, and Meet the Robinsons $7.6/97.8. Any way you slice it, DreamWorks' Asian ursine is looking like a major hit.

Update: Well now. The K.C. was off $4 million as the Big Bear rakes in $60 million in its opening stanza.

Down the list, second place Zohan collects $40 million, while Indy drops 49%, collecting $22.8 million for a total take of $253 million after three weekends.

The sturdy Iron Man does another $7.5 million and now stands at $288,893,000 ... within striking distance of $300 million.

Sex and the City (#4) drops 62% and now is just an eyelash of an even $100 million ... and The Strangers takes the usual horror-movie drop (-56%), so now totals $37,646,000.

Variety trumpets the bear's box office:

“Panda,” with a per-screen average of $14,584, is the first bonafide family hit of the summer, and is the first toon to unspool at the B.O. since Easter tentpole “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” It also played to young adults.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent, excellent movie. Congratulations, Dreamworks!! Just incredibly entertaining. The audience I saw it with laughed uproariously throughout, and loved every minute. The James Baxter 2D animation at the beginning was fantastic!

Meanwhile, at Nikki Finke's site, she's been tracking the box office, and getting "insider" analysis as to why it's doing so well. Here's a couple gems:

From a hollywood insider: "I attribute it to people loving pandas and Jack Black being a big star."

From Nikki Finke herself: "I have a personal pet theory: almost any animated film featuring characters with fur does better at the box office."

*facepalm* Yeah, like all those fish with fur in Finding Nemo. How about a compelling concept featuring appealing characters?? Nah, couldn't be that. It's because people just love pandas.

Anonymous said...

I was all excited and happy to leave a comment and then you had to go and quote that aptly named vulture. Arrrrg!

Congrats to DW and all those who worked on it. Great news for the industry!!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!!

Anonymous said...

Damm kids!...I tried to go see it but it was all sold out!


R. (a.k.a. The Angel of Death)

Anonymous said...

Finally was able to go see the Panda.

The quality of animation is fantastic. A new height for Dreamworks. That escape sequence was jawdropping good!

R.

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