Early testing indicated that the movie would be a hit, but even Disney executives were pleasantly surprised as the film grossed nearly $75 million to surpass Frozen for the title of Disney’s largest ever opening for an animated movie.
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This total makes the film the biggest opening in Disney Animation Studios history, skating by “Frozen”, which brought in a $67.4 million opening weekend in 2013. Zootopia has been directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore.
As predicted, the movie ends “Deadpool” reign to become a champion at North American box office in its opening weekend. “[Pixar’s John Lasseter and Ed Catmull] have installed a culture of high-quality, filmmaker-driven movies”, says Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis. With no major family film opening until “The Jungle Book” lands on April 15, “Zootopia” is well positioned to be the de facto choice for moviegoers with children for the next month.
Walt Disney Animation Studios witnesses a wonderful start of its 3D animated film “Zootopia” this weekend. Zootopia also tops the likes of The Incredibles ($70 million, 2004) and Finding Nemo ($70 million, 2003) on opening weekend cash haul, but compared with ticket prices from ten years ago Zootopia’s total sales can’t compete. Running on its second weekend, Gods of Egypt has pooled in $5 million and secured the fifth spot on the weekend box office list. The R-rated “not-superhero” movie has collected $311.2 million domestically so far.
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Zootopia’s take of $73.7 million more than tripled the take of its closest competitor in the Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman-led action thriller, London Has Fallen, which bowed in at $21.7 million. “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”, $7.6 million. 5. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Best Actor Oscar win last Sunday bumped The Revenant up from No. 10 to No. 8 with $3.3 million.
