Furry animals, an anti-bigotry message and the vocal talents of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman and Idris Elba proved to be a winning formula for Walt Disney Animation Studios this weekend.
Its latest offering, Zootopia (called Zootropolis in the UK), raced straight to the top of the North American box office, raking in a whopping $73.7 million. That total gives Disney’s own animation arm – whose recent hits include Big Hero 6 and Tangled – its biggest ever three-day opening.
Zootopia’s positive reviews [read ours here] and high audience rating should reassure Disney executives that it can produce films to rival Pixar, which Disney acquired 10 years ago.
London Has Fallen came in a distant second with $21.7 million. The Gerard Butler-starring action flick [read our review] performed as expected but fell short of its predecessor’s, Olympus Has Fallen, debut in 2013.
Bronze positioned Deadpool became only the third R-rated movie to cross the $300 million mark domestically. The badly behaved ‘superhero’ added $16.4 million in its fourth week of release, making it a highly profitable venture for Fox.
Tina Fey’s journalism comedy-drama Whiskey Foxtrot Tango [read our review] took fourth place with $7.6 million, missing forecasts, while the critically derided Gods of Egypt rounded out the top five, recording $5 million worth of ticket sales.
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