Shrek breaks animation record with $122M opening
Last Updated: Sunday, May 20, 2007 | 3:26 PM ET
CBC Arts
Shrek the Third has broken the North American opening weekend record for an animated film, raking in $122 million US.
The third sequel in the series about a green ogre (voiced by Canadian Mike Myers) living in a post-modern fairytale land with his lady love, Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) also became the third-biggest opening of all time.
In taking the crown for the animation record, it replaced Shrek 2, which had an opening of $108 million US back in 2004.
"The opening was significantly beyond our expectations," Anne Globe, the head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation, said Sunday.
"The movie played much more like an all-audience movie. It played broadly to general and family audiences."
The movie reunites Myers and Diaz with co-stars Eddie Murphy as Donkey and Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots. Singer Justin Timberlake joins the cast this time, providing the voice of the awkward teen who is to become the future King Arthur.
Analysts are predicting a banner year for films. Spider-Man 3, starring Tobey Maguire, smashed several box office records including best opening weekend in North America for any movie as well as best global sales in one day.
Many expect that next Friday's release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, with Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom, will challenge Spider-Man 3 for box office supremacy.
The top five box office returns in North America this weekend are:
- Shrek the Third
- Spider-Man 3
- 28 Weeks Later
- Disturbia
- Georgia Rule
