“Wall-E” and “Wanted” do a long awaited double whammy on the summer box office.
The Critically acclaimed Wall-E of Disney and Pixar, directed by Andrew Stanton, made top choice this weekend grossing an estimated $62.5 mil form approximately 3,992 theatrical runs. The R-Rated “Wanted” also surpassed critic’s expectations, grossing an estimated $51.1 mil from approximately 3,175 theatrical runs.
For “Wall-E” this is the second best June opening to follow numbers from “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (94.7 mil)
PIXAR
| Rank | Title (click to view) | Studio | Gross / Theaters | Opening / Theaters | Date | ||
| 1 | Finding Nemo | BV | $339,714,978 | 3,425 | $70,251,710 | 3,374 | 5/30/03 |
| 2 | The Incredibles | BV | $261,441,092 | 3,933 | $70,467,623 | 3,933 | 11/5/04 |
| 3 | Monsters, Inc. | BV | $255,873,250 | 3,649 | $62,577,067 | 3,237 | 11/2/01 |
| 4 | Toy Story 2 | BV | $245,852,179 | 3,257 | $300,163 | 1 | 11/19/99 |
| 5 | Cars | BV | $244,082,982 | 3,988 | $60,119,509 | 3,985 | 6/9/06 |
| 6 | Ratatouille | BV | $206,445,654 | 3,940 | $47,027,395 | 3,940 | 6/29/07 |
| 7 | Toy Story | BV | $191,796,233 | 2,574 | $29,140,617 | 2,457 | 11/22/95 |
| 8 | A Bug’s Life | BV | $162,798,565 | 2,773 | $291,121 | 1 | 11/20/98 |
| 9 | Wall-E | BV | $62,500,000 | 3,992 | $62,500,000 | 3,992 | 6/27/08 |
“Wanted” scored the best opening ever of an R rated film in the month of June. It is of some people’s opinions that the exorbitant gas prices and the toppling economy has caused the surge in movie goers to rise to the occasion. “Wanted” mirrored the performance of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” from 2005–which opened to $50.3 million and cumed 186.3 mil domestically. It played well to the 51% of its audience under thirty and the African American and Hispanic audiences. Angelina is a tigress no doubt and she will always pull in the numbers no matter what character she plays.
This weekend’s ratings and earnings is up 20% from this time’s performances of last year. On the flip side “Love Guru” has slipped 61% only grossing a measly 5 mil this weekend and a cumulative gross of $25.3 mil. It looks like Mike Meyers isn’t cut out for the love roles.
Wall-E is Pixar’s Ninth attempt and creating genius and surprisingly every film that Pixar has released has opened at #1– which Disney prexy of distribution Chuck Viane characterized as “one of the most envied track records in show business.
To hope for this week is Peter Berg & Sony Picture’s, Hancock. Which, I am predicting will bring in at least as 77.2 mil–comparable to what “I Am Legend” did last December. Will Smith cant’ fail and the anticipation of this film has been building since last fall. Let’s cross our fingers because the critics aren’t too enthused about the performance of this lazy superhero.
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