Meet the Robinsons keeps #2 spot
Disney animated movie holds off four challengers
Disney's Meet the Robinsons lost 32% of its audience but managed to stave off all comers to keep the #2 spot for its second week in theatres.
(Source: www.boxofficemojo.com)
It wasn't the vindication Disney executives were hoping for, but their animated movie Meet the Robinsons showed some legs, hanging onto the #2 spot despite a challenge by Robert Rodgriguez and Quentin Tarantino.
The CGI time-travelling flick made another $17,004,000 over the Easter weekend, bringing its two-week total to $52,235,000. In doing so, it staved off challenges by a prat-falling Ice Cube in the live-action Are We Done Yet? and the previously bullet-proof team of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino honouring B-Movie exploitation flicks in Grindhouse.
That said, $52 million in two weeks is unusually low for the animation colossus, which doesn't bode well for Disney's future in the CGI realm. Allthough Meet the Robinsons is expected to hit the $100 million mark, it won't do so without difficulty. Many commentators have said that it's likely that the Mouse House will return to cel animation, leaving CGI to subsidiary Pixar.
Disney has a couple more animated flicks to unleash on moviegoers in 2007, which are expected to out-perform Meet the Robinsons. The first is Pixar's Ratatouille, which hits theatres on June 29th. The second offering is the partially live-action Enchanted, which opens November 21st. Disney is really hoping for good box office on the latter flick, since it's the company's second attempt to revitalize their legendary cel animation division.
Disney is still not admitting how much it cost to make Meet the Robinsons, but the flick has now officially surpassed the only competing CGI flick in theatres, Warner/Imagi's TMNT. That flick cranked out $4,935,000 in box office last weekend, falling to 9th spot on the Top Ten. TMNT made $46,722,000 in its 3 weeks in theatres, well below Meet the Robinsons' $52 million.
As an attempt to revive the 80's toy phenomenon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT appears to have fizzled with moviegoers. It is now the lowest-earning of the four movies associated with the franchise.
However, from a hard dollars-and-cents perspective, TMNT is a success, making back its $35 million price tag and is now turning a profit. If the saga of the Weinstein Company's Hoodwinked! is any indication, that means the Weinsteins will certainly greenlight a TMNT 2.
The Weinsteins are also desperate for any kind of good news: despite the presence of revered directors Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Desperado) and some impressive reviews, Grindhouse failed to click with audiences. This is the 9th Weinstein-produced flick so far that has failed to live up to box office expectations.
