'The Incredibles' Soar to $70 Million at Box Office
Computer animated movie superheroes "The Incredibles" topped domestic box office charts over the weekend, raking in $70.7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
Reigning champion and haunted-house thriller "The Grudge" dropped to No. 3 at $13.5 million, while "Ray," starring Jamie Foxx in the role as the late "Genius of Soul" Ray Charles, maintained its hold on the No. 2 slot with $13.8 million.
Low-budget thriller "Saw" fell from third to fourth with $11.4 million, and debuting "Alfie," a remake of the 1966 film of the same name, took the No. 5 position with $6.5 million at box offices in the United States and Canada.
"Incredibles" is the sixth release from Pixar Animation Studios Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. The pair have enjoyed huge successes with their computer animated movies going back to 1995's original "Toy Story," and "Incredibles" is started in the same direction.
The most recent Pixar/Disney film was 2003's "Finding Nemo," and it debuted in May to a three-day weekend total of $70.3 million, according to figures from box office tracking service Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
Wall Street investors had been anxiously anticipating a strong opening weekend, and had pushed Pixar's stock price to a record high of $84.94 in Nasdaq trading on Friday.
Among other movies, the Jennifer Lopez-Richard Gere romance "Shall We Dance?" fell to the No. 6 position with $5.7 million, followed by another computer animated movie, "Shark Tale," in the seventh spot with $4.6 million.
The cumulative box office for "Shark Tale" now stands at $154.1 million, which should please investors in the newly public company DreamWorks Animation.
Finishing the top 10 in order were football film "Friday Night Lights" with $3 million, firefighter saga "Ladder 49" with $2.6 million, and puppet comedy "Team America: World Police" at $1.9 million.
While "The Incredibles" opened strong, it was not enough to boost the total weekend box office above last year. Overall sales for the top 12 films slipped 5 percent to $136.1 million from $143.7 million last year when the No. 1 film was "The Matrix: Revolutions," according to Exhibitor Relations.
"The Grudge" was distributed by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. "Ray" and "Friday Night Lights" were released by Universal Pictures, a division of General Electric Co. "Saw" was released by Lions Gate Films, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. "Alfie" and "Team America: World Police" were released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. "Shall We Dance?" was released by Miramax Films, and "Ladder 49" by Touchstone Pictures, both units of Walt Disney Co.