Print Pixar's UP Soars to Victory

The estimates for the weekend have been counted and as expected it was dominated by Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures. The partnership’s latest animation nearly tripled their box office score with Up over that of the 20th Century Fox's second place finisher, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

With Buena Vista launching their latest Pixar animation Up into 3,766 theaters, the studio enjoyed an estimated $68.2 million over its first three days of release. The numbers has it averaging $18,109 with audiences across the nation. Their latest release has them surpassing last year’s Wall-E, which debuted to the tune of $63.1 million last summer.

The film is also the third highest opener for the Pixar brand behind 2004's The Incredibles ($70.4 mil) and 2003's Finding Nemo ($70.2 mil).

Following in a respectable yet distant second place is another film catered to the prized family audience, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. The Ben Stiller-led sequel pulled in another $25.5 million this weekend to increase its overall domestic gross to $105.2 million since last weekend’s victory. With 20^th Century Fox showing the sequel on 4,101 theaters across the nation, this latest report averaged $6,218 per showing with the family audiences for its second weekend. The film’s international numbers are not yet in.

Universal Pictures enjoyed the 3^rd place spot with Sam Raimi’s return to genre horror Drag Me to Hell grabbing an estimated $16.6 million in ticket sales during its first three days of release. While most of the summer tent pole releases are vying for nearly 4,000 screens each, Universal released “Hell” in only 2,504 theaters. This has the film actually in 2^nd place for the weekly audience average rate with $6,630 per showing. And while no budget has been listed, this is likely a very respectable weekend for the horror film as Raimi tends to keep these types of films low in price.

Warner Bros. Pictures takes down the 4^th place spot for their second weekend of Terminator Salvation, which pulled in an estimated $16.1 million in sales. The latest numbers increase the studio’s overall domestic gross to $90.6 million. Sony Pictures is handling the film's foreign distribution, which won’t premiere in most international markets for another few weeks.

Taking home the 5^th place prize is Paramount’s smash hit Star Trek, which found another $12.8 million. The Friday haul has the reboot officially crossing the $200 million domestic mark with a tally of $209.5 million. The overall weekly performance also had the film earn the #1 Domestic Earner of 2009 by surpassing Monsters vs. Aliens’ score of $194.1 million. With the film’s foreign gross of $92.0 million, Paramount has a worldwide mark of $301.5 million.

The last double digit score for this weekend was Sony Pictures’ sequel Angels & Demons landing in 6^th place with $11.2 million in receipts. The Ron Howard-directed adaptation of the Dan Brown novel broke the $100 million mark in domestic theaters to go with its $100 million foreign tally. At the moment, the follow-up to The Da Vinci Code has a worldwide gross of $206.8 million after seventeen days of theatrical release.

One last thing to note is X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which continues to be pulled out of theaters in favor of the fresher summer releases. With 2,263 theaters still showing the film found $3.9 million for 8^th place this weekend. The latest numbers has increased Fox’s domestic gross to $170.8 million. And with their decent foreign numbers the studio has a worldwide gross of $315.8 million.

Rank	Movie	Weekend	Theaters	Average	Total	Budget
1	Up	$68.2 mil	3,766	$18,109	$68.2 mil	----
2	Night at the Museum 2	$25.5 mil	4,101	$6,218	$105.2 mil	$150
3	Drag Me to Hell	$16.6 mil	2,508	$6,630	$16.6 mil	----
4	Terminator Salvation	$16.1 mil	3,602	$4,481	$90.6 mil	$200
5	Star Trek	$12.8 mil	3,507	$3,650	$209.5 mil	$165
6	Angels & Demons	$11.2 mil	3,464	$3,233	$104.7 mil	$150
7	Dance Flick	$4.9 mil	2,459	$1,993	$19.2 mil	$25
8	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	$3.9 mil	2,263	$1,723	$170.8 mil	$150
9	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	$1.9 mil	1,450	$1,314	$50.0 mil	----
10	Obsessed	$665,000	679	$979	$67.5 mil	$20

Here’s the latest summer numbers. X-Men Origins: Wolverine still has the best worldwide mark of this summer season so far but it won’t be for much longer. As you can see in the list below, Paramount’s Star Trek is rapidly approaching that mark and will likely be in the top spot before Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen enters theaters at the end of June.

Pixar's UP Soars to Victory (Mania.com)