Sunday
09Nov2008
Box Office - $63 Million for 'Madagascar'
Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 12:59PM
It was a tremendous weekend for
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, as the animated
sequel absolutely dominated the box office with a three-day total of $63
million, according to estimates released by
Box Office Mojo.
That was more than even the biggest estimates, and it was a $27 million Saturday
- a 56% increase over Friday - that really sealed the deal. Madagascar
now has the fourth-biggest opening of 2008, and I think you can guess the top
three.
2 - Role Models ($19.2 million)
3 - High School Musical ($9.5 million)
4 - Changeling ($7.2 million)
5 - Zack and Miri ($6.5 million)
The other new R-rated comedy, Soul Men, tanked, drawing just $5.6 million and finishing out of the top five.
It will be interesting to see how strong Madagascar's second weekend is when it faces much stronger competition from Quantum of Solace.
The Top Five:
1 - Madagascar ($63 million)
2 - Role Models ($19.2 million)
3 - High School Musical ($9.5 million)
4 - Changeling ($7.2 million)
5 - Zack and Miri ($6.5 million)
Reader Comments (6)
I'm very glad to see "Role Models" succeed; IMO, it was a more satisfying comedy than "Zack and Miri", especially since I didn't expect it to be as good as it ended up being.
"Madagascar" will hold up well I think; there's no real competition for 2 weeks, and even then, it'll probably have made nearly 200 million.
How is Quantum of Solace not competition, unless you mean just for family movies?
Quantum isn't direct competition. It's still going to knock Madagascar down a bit, but not by much. People seem to cater to their kids these days, and if Junior whines enough, he'll get to go to Madagascar.
The cartoon is not going to repeat, if that's what you're saying. Even if it only drops 30 - 40%, Bond is probably going to be in the $60 million neighborhood itself.
I had meant that for the family audience, until "Bolt" comes out in a couple weeks, "Madagascar"'s going to be the big fish in the small pond. I do not doubt, not even for a second, that 'Quantum of Solace" will be a big hit. But there isn't that much (although there is some) overlap between these two movies, and both will thrive in the marketplace.
Yeah, no question. But movies always drop off 30 - 50% in their second weekend. Even The Dark Knight lost half its audience. I mean, what Madagascar has done is huge, no doubt about it, but I don't think it'll be near $200 million by the 21st.