Meet the Robinsons takes 2nd

(Source: www.boxofficemojo.com)

Riding some positive reviews (and a 65% Fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com), Stephen J. Anderson's Meet the Robinsons debuted in 2nd place, taking $25,056,000 in its first weekend. That was slightly weaker than TMNT's debut of $25,450,000 last week, but Meet the Robinsons' friendlier reception with the critics may give the film some "legs."

"It's right on the expectation level (of $25 to $28 million)," claimed Chuck Viane, Buena Vista's president of distribution. "And of course we're playing into the Easter holiday which begins Monday and by Friday 80 percent of kids will be out of school."

Interestingly, Meet the Robinsons' biggest business was in the 600 3-D theatres it opened in last weekend. According to Viane, the 3-D version of that film pulled double what the 2-D variant was making in theatres. That marks a first that any movie played better in 3-D than in 2-D: there has never before been enough 3-D theatres to make that kind of impact on a flick's box office.

As for TMNT, that film dropped two spots to the #4 position, making a mere $9,160,000 in its 2nd week in theatres. That's one spot below the current best-selling movie of 2007, the live-action 300. TMNT dropped 62% of its audience and, if current trends persist, it may end up as the weakest of the 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. On the plus side, the movie now has made its production costs back in theatres. Anything else it earns now is purely gravy for The Weinstein Company and Warner Bros.

The animated front is looking fairly quiet for the next little while, at least until the summer months. The only other flick coming this month is The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres (yes, that's the actual title), due April 13th.

Here's the list of animated flicks currently in theatres and how they did at the box office last weekend.

2) Meet the Robinsons (B.V.): $25,056,000 (NEW)

4) TMNT (Warner Bros.): $9,160,000 ($38,428,000 over 2 weeks)

Fun Fact: The character of Lewis (the protagonist Meet the Robinsons) was originally voiced by Jordan Fry. After incoming chief creative officer of Walt Disney Feature Animation John Lasseter viewed a rough draft of Meet the Robinsons in May of 2006, he recommended a number of changes to director Stephen J. Anderson's film. During those changes, Fry was replaced by Daniel Hanson.

Director Anderson voiced 3 characters in Meet the Robinsons: the villainous Bowler Hat Guy, Tallulah and Grandpa Bud.

The only "name" actors in Meet the Robinsons were Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) as Lucille Krunklehorn and Tom Selleck as Cornelius Robinson.

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