On its opening weekend in the United States, the long awaited sequel to Finding Nemo is predicted to take an estimated $184 million in 4035 cinemas, nearly certainly toppling the record of $163 million held by DreamWorks’ Shrek the Third for the last nine years.
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Finding Dory made a splash with an estimated $54.95 million from Friday showings at 4,305 theaters, in addition to the $9.2 million from Thursday night.
Pixar is no stranger to box-office magic: those big-eyed characters and tear-jerking stories are pretty consistent performers.
“Dory” may even challenge 2007’s “Shrek the Third”, which now holds the record for the largest North American opening weekend for an animated movie with $121.6 million.
Buoyed by affection for 2003’s “Finding Nemo”, the long-awaited sequel also will likely deliver Pixar’s biggest opening weekend, surpassing 2010’s “Toy Story 3”, which earned $110 million.
Assuming Finding Dory performs as projected, the film’s ticket sales would be enough to dethrone current animated top dog, DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek the Third, which opened to $121.63 million in 2007. Last year’s “Minions” is in second at $115.7 million.
But for Finding Dory, theater-goers can bring an iPhone or an iPad and earbuds to use the Disney Anywhere app. Reviews for the film have been mostly positive, and moviegoers gave “Finding Dory” a Cinemascore of A, suggesting it will hold onto a healthy chunk of its audience in coming weeks. Directed by Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”, “WALL•E”) and produced by Lindsey Collins (co-producer “WALL•E”). One last thing, Dory is now sitting on an approval rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes (after 157 reviews), a bit lower than Finding Nemo’s 99% (254 reviews).
Dory’s short term memory loss is a disability that is addressed with compassion as she sets out to find long lost parents.
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New Line, Warner Bros. and Universal teamed on Central Intelligence, which cost roughly $50 million to produce. At the same time, Johnson has emerged as one of the most bankable action headliners with “San Andreas” and “Furious 7”. He enlists his high-school buddy Hart to help him on a mission.
