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Surf's Up, Shrek Pushed Down

Both Animated Movies Slide out of Top 5 in Box Office

Jun 26, 2007 Dominic von Riedemann

Sony's Surf's Up and DreamWorks' Shrek the Third get pushed down by opening movies. Shrek the Third crosses $300 million mark

(Source: www.boxofficemojo.com)

Sony Pictures Classics' Surf's Up and DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third are slowly sliding down the Top Ten as new movies were released this past weekend. Both movies were unable to stand their ground against two live-action debuts: Steve Carell's Evan Almighty and John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson in 1408, adapted from a Stephen King short story.

Surf's Up slid one spot to #6, making $6.5 million over the weekend of June 22nd to 24th. This means that Sony Picture Animation's second animated movie (after 2006's Open Season) has only made $47.1 million in its 3 weeks in theatres. Sony isn't admitting how much cash they threw at this flick, but I would be highly, highly surprised if it wasn't in the $80 - 90 million mark. This means that, unless Surf's Up explodes overseas, that Sony will struggle to make its money back.

The only person who will take this flick's underwhelming box office philosophically is star Shia LaBeouf, since he also has the heavily-favoured Transformers coming out on July 3rd.

That said, the movie's impressive slate of reviews (RottenTomatoes.com has certified Surf's Up as Fresh with 83 positive notices out of 108 reviews posted) may give this flick new life on home video.

The other animated contender on our chart, DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third, has nothing to worry about as it slides one spot to the 7th position. That flick made $5.6 million in its 6th weekend in theatres, putting it over the $300 million mark. Considering that this movie cost DreamWorks $160 million to make, it's fair to say that Jeffrey Katzenberg and Company made a pretty return on their investment.

This also makes Shrek the Third the second-highest grossing film of the 2007 summer season so far, behind the live-action Spider-Man 3. Shrek the Third is also a monster overseas, topping box offices internationally. Did I mention that Shrek 4 and Shrek 5 have already been green-lit?

This Friday sees the release of Disney/Pixar's entry into the Great Animation Wars of 2007, Ratatouille. As I may mentioned once or twice before, this movie currently enjoys a 100% Fresh Rating on RottenTomatoes.com, which means 19 out of 19 reviewers who have seen this flick are digging it like an old soul record. Will the Rat take down the Ogre, or will the Ogre stomp the Rat? Stay tuned and find out.

Ye Olde Compleat List

6) Surf's Up (Sony Pictures Animation): $6,580,743 ($47,193,723 over 3 weeks)

7) Shrek the Third (DreamWorks Animation): $5,652,585 ($307,807,439 over 6 weeks)

The copyright of the article Surf's Up, Shrek Pushed Down in Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish Surf's Up, Shrek Pushed Down in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Surf's Up poster