LOS ANGELES — It was a highly animated weekend at the box office, as moviegoers spent more than $85 million to see Brave and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted - each family-oriented, nonlive action films.
Brave is the 13th film from Pixar Animation to open in the No. 1 position at the multiplex, as the 3-D movie debuted with a strong $66.3 million last weekend, according to an estimate from distributor Walt Disney Studios. Meanwhile, the 3-D animated Madagascar 3 continued to do strong business even on its third weekend in theaters, grossing almost an additional $20 million. The Dream-Works Animation title has now collected more than $157 million in the United States and Canada.
Beyond Brave, the weekend’s other debuts failed to resonate with audiences. The historical 3-D thriller Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter got off to an underwhelming start, grossing $16.3 million in its opening weekend.
And the apocalypse dramedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World attracted far fewer moviegoers to theaters, debuting with a disappointing $3.8 million.
Brave is the latest hit for Disney’s Pixar animation unit, which has a nearly impeccable track record at the box office.
The movie got off to a slightly better start than the company’s last release, Cars 2, which opened with $66.1 million last summer and is one of the only Pixar releases to not have received overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Critics were far kinder to Brave, and moviegoers also loved the film, assigning it an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore. The movie stars Pixar’s first female protagonist, a Scottish teenage princess named Merida whose defiant nature creates trouble within her kingdom.
Although seven of the top 10 highest-grossing theaters for the film were in California, the movie also did particularly well in family-skewing markets such as Orlando, Fla., Seattle and Salt Like City, where ticket sales were 53 percent above the norm.
Overseas, Brave debuted in 10 foreign markets including Russia and China and grossed $13.5 million overall. The film will not open in Scotland, where it is set, until mid-August.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter wasn’t well liked in America, because those who saw it here last weekend gave it only an average grade of C-plus. The film, which also suffered from poor reviews,features President Abraham Lincoln as an ax-carrying emancipator intent on slaying the nation’s vampires. 20th Century Fox spent roughly $69 million to produce the film, which does not star any well-known actors.
Based on a best-selling novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, the movie was expected to appeal mostly to young men. While the movie did attract more men than women, about 44 percent of the crowd was female, and 53 percent were 25 and older.
Internationally, the movie debuted in 17 foreign markets and collected $8.1 million. The film performed best in Russia, where it grossed $3.9 million.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World was expected to debut with at least $7 million, but the film failed to attract the strong adult audience Focus Features wanted. The movie, which stars Steve Carell and Keira Knightley as friends who bond on the eve of the apocalypse, cost the studio roughly $10 million.
Unfortunately for Focus, the movie will probably not generate positive word of mouth, because it too received a dismal C-plus CinemaScore.
MovieStyle, Pages 36 on 06/29/2012