LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Pixar s “Finding Dory” has made box office history, industry data showed Monday, taking in the biggest ever opening weekend revenue for an animated movie.
“Dory,” voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, earned $135.1 million, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations, smashing the $121.6 million take of the previous record holder, 2007 s “Shrek the Third.”
The movie earned an 11th weekend at the top of the North American box office for Disney, which owns Pixar and was behind the three top-grossing 2016 films so far — “Zootopia,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “The Jungle Book.”
” Finding Dory is almost guaranteed to hit $1 billion worldwide this summer, as the franchise is one of Pixar s most beloved series,” said Jeff Bock, a box office expert at Exhibitor Relations.
“Dory” follows a forgetful fish on a quest to find her parents, much as she did as a supporting character in the 2003 hit “Finding Nemo.”
The sequel blew away the competition, including “Central Intelligence,” a comedy with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart that also was new in theaters this weekend.
The film about a spy who recruits a high school buddy for an action-packed caper made a respectable $34.5 million at the box office.
Last week s top earner, “The Conjuring 2,” dropped to third place with a $15.5 million take its second week in theaters.
The supernatural fright fest stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as a paranormal-investigating couple.
“Now You See Me 2,” starring Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson as illusionists, dropped a notch to fourth after making $9.4 million over the weekend, the crime caper s second in theaters.
Fifth with $7.2 million was “Warcraft,” a CGI extravaganza based on the hit video game “World of Warcraft.”
It was directed by Duncan Jones, son of the late British music legend David Bowie, and starred Dominic Cooper, Travis Fimmel and Paula Patton.
