‘Shrek 3’ biggest animated film, biggest PG rated movie opening ever
By Damara Popoola

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/20/07 – “Shrek The Third” was a real monster at the nation’s box office over the weekend, taking the number one spot with an estimated gross of $122 million for its first three days, the fourth highest grossing debut of all time, the third highest non-holiday opening and the highest opening weekend ever for an animated movie. That doesn’t include another $907,000 the film made from an early preview on Thursday evening.

“Shrek 3” grossed $47 million on Saturday making the second-biggest Saturday ever. Sunday’s estimate of $36.5 million was the second-highest for that day. The record highs for both are held by “Spider-Man 3.” According to DreamWorks, “Shrek 3” is had the biggest opening ever for a movie rated PG.

While it did not break a record like “Spiderman 3,” the results exceeded expectations and showed that the movie was not suffering from a sequel let down. By any measure, it was an impressive debut for the third in the series of anti-fairy tales starring the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy. This time they were joined by other celebrities including Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett and Justin Timberlake, whose combined star power no doubt moved audiences to flock to theaters this weekend despite lackluster reviews.

A lot of those going are apparently just Shrek fans. “Shrek 2,” which opened with $108 million (excluding an early preview), went on to gross $40 million. It transcended being just for the family audience, working as a comedy for everyone. With “Shrek 3” that trend continued, as the studio said exit polls show as many as half of the ticket buyers were individuals, not families. Both Shrek 2 and 3 reportedly cost between $150 million and $170 million to make.

Safe at number two was the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, who brought in about $28.5 million for his third week. “Spider-Man 3” saw a decline of about 51 percent from last week, but it already has an impressive domestic gross of $281.9 million. What “Spiderman” shows that could impact “Shrek 3” is that the audience for sequels is often front-loaded, meaning that those who really want to see it go early in the run, resulting in a fast drop-off over the first weeks.

Zombie horror sequel “28 Weeks Later” fell one spot, securing third with $5.2 million in its second week. Still hanging in there was Shia LaBeouf vehicle “Disturbia,” which kept the number four spot with a take of about $3.7 million after six weeks in release, bringing its take after a little over a month to a very strong $71.3 million.

Generational drama “Georgia Rule” starring Lindsay Lohan and “Desperate Housewives’” Felicity Huffman, fell two spots its second week, landing at fifth. The critically-panned film earned a disappointing $3.5 million.

Another holdover included Ryan Gosling’s legal mystery “Fracture” that held sixth for the second week in a row with an estimated $2.4 million in earnings, bringing its five week gross to about $34.6 million. War parody “Delta Farce,” starring comedian Larry the Cable Guy, landed at number seven with it $1.8 million.

Space bending thriller “The Invisible” remained on the charts this week at the number eight spot, earning $1.3 million. Also with an estimated $1.3 million take was British cop-comedy “Hot Fuzz” that took ninth.

Making its debut in the top 10 was Fox Searchlight’s critically acclaimed dramedy “Waitress.” The chick flick centers around the travails of a pregnant small town woman, played by Keri Russell (“Felicity”), and the conflict between staying with her dead-beat husband or leaving to be with the local doctor she is undeniably attracted to. Jeremy Sisto and Nathan Fillion star alongside Russell in the quirky film, and despite its being shown in only 116 theaters nationwide, it managed to snag the tenth spot with $1.1 million its third week out. It goes into wide release in about 500 theaters on Friday.

No real competition for “Shrek the Third” this week, as was expected, but with the opening of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” coming up May 25, the jolly green ogre’s reign at the top is likely to be short.