Sigh of Relief

Now with butter-flavored Add On.

... issues from DreamWorks Animation.

Croods, from DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox, is now expected to open to a solid $43 million. ...

Which, by mmy lights, makes complete sense, because it plays to DreamWorks Animation's strenghts: gorgeous scenics, wacky comedy, visual gags and diverse characters. ...

The Nikkster breaks down the weekend this way:

1. The Croods (DreamWorks Animation/Fox) NEW [Runs 4,046] PG Friday $11.6M, Saturday $18.5M, Weekend $44.0M

2. Olympus Has Fallen (FilmDistrict) NEW (Runs 3,098] R Friday $10.0M, Saturday $12.8M, Weekend $30.5M

3. Oz The Great and Powerful (Disney) Week 3 [Runs 3,805] PG Friday $5.7M, Saturday $10.2M, Weekend $23.0M, Cume $178.5M

4. The Call (TriStar/Sony) Week 2 [Runs 2,507] R Friday $2.6M, Saturday $3.9M, Weekend $8.7M (-48%), Cume $30.9M

5. Admission (Focus Features) NEW [Runs 2,160] PG13 Friday $2.0M, Saturday $2.7M Weekend $6.4M

6. Spring Breakers (A24) Week 2 [Runs 1,104] R Friday $1.9M, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $4.5M, Cume $5.0M

7. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (Warner Bros) Week 2 [Runs 3,160] PG13 Friday $1.3M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.4M, Cume $17.4M

8. Jack The Giant Slayer (Warner Bros) Week 4 [Runs 2,560] PG13 Friday $765K, Saturday $1.4M, Weekend $3.0M, Cume $59.1M

9. Identity Thief (Universal) Week 7 [Runs 2,166] R Friday $758K, Saturday $1.2M, Weekend $2.5M, Cume $128.0M

10. Snitch (Summit/Lionsgate) Week 5 [Runs 1,807] PG13 Friday $544K, Saturday $877K, Weekend $1.9M, Cume $40.3M

Congratulations to Chris Sanders and Kirk de Micco and the whole creative and production staff. Also congrats to story supervisor Ed Gombert, who headed up the storyboard crew for the first time since Aladdin. I hope the picture exceeds expectaions in all ways.

Add On: The Croods' first-day results are close to How to Train Your Dragon's:

The Croods -- $11,600,000
How to Train Your Dragon -- $12,111,766

B.O. Mojo opines:

... The Croods grossed an estimated $44.7 million from 4,046 locations. Among recent original DreamWorks Animation movies, it's about even with 2010's How to Train Your Dragon ($43.7 million) and Megamind ($46 million), and a vast improvement over November's Rise of the Guardians (which took 11 days to get to $44 million).

This is without a doubt a good start for The Croods, though it was hard to imagine it going much lower. The movie had a competent marketing effort, and benefited from the fact that the only other 2013 animated movie so far was February's modest Escape From Planet Earth. With an "A" CinemaScore and no serious competition until May, The Croods is in a very good position, though it would be shocking if it came close to matching How to Train Your Dragon's $217.6 million.

The audience was 57 percent female, and surprisingly skewed older (55 percent were 25 years of age and up). 3D ticket sales only accounted for 38 percent of the gross, which is an incredibly low number for the format. ...

I think the commercial pizzazz of 3-D is over. Me, I find the format only marginally useful (though DWA has used 3-D more entertainingly than most studios).

I've seen The Croods,, but only in glorious "flat" screen Spare me the magic goggles and lower light levels.