Box Office: Cars finishes #1

By Scott Rosenberg Jun 12, 2006, 2:49 GMT

After taking moviegoers magically into the realm of toys, bugs, monsters, fish, and superheroes, the masterful storytellers and technical wizards at Pixar Animation Studios ("The Incredibles," "Finding Nemo," "Monsters, Inc."), and Academy Award®-winning director John Lasseter ("Toy Story," "Toy Story 2," "A Bug\'s Life"), hit the road with a fast-paced comedy adventure set inside the world of cars. Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson), a hotshot rookie race car driven ...more

Pixar’s ‘Cars’ roared to first place at the box office this past weekend, crossing the finish line at an estimated $62.8 million.

The animated feature, is the third-best opening in the Disney-Pixar cartoon series, just ahead of ‘Monsters, Inc.’ but behind ‘The Incredibles’ and ‘Finding Nemo,’ which both took in about $70 million.

‘Cars’ raced across 7,000 screens in nearly 4,000 theaters.

"As far as expectations go, we've all grown accustomed to hitting home runs, and in anyone's ballpark $60 million is a home run," said Chuck Viane, Buena Vista's president of distribution. "On Monday, 61 percent of kids are out of school, then a week from Monday, 81 percent. That's the great thing about the summer—it's not just about the weekend. The week takes on the aura of being a seven-day play date."

According to Buena Vista's research, Cars was predictably fueled by families, who comprised 74 percent of moviegoers, though nearly 40 percent were over 25 years old and there was an even split between the genders. The audience reaction, according to pollster CinemaScore, was an "A."

‘Cars’ raced along Route 66, past last Tuesday’s 666 opening of ‘The Omen’ which garnered $35.7 million over six days – leaving ‘the Fox remake in fourth place dust.

Fox's exit polling indicated that 63 percent of  Omen's audience was under 25.  This indicates that most were not around to see the original chapter in the franchise.

Last week’s box-office topper ‘The Break-Up' staring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston "smooched" to a cool second place with $20.5 million bringing its 10 day total to $74.1 million.

The mutants in Fox’s ‘X-Men: The Last Stand,’ rocketed past the $200 million mark domestically – first feature to achieve that benchmark this year. They come in at number 3 with $15.55 million - three-week gross about $201.7 million.

The second animated feature playing in theaters, DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Over the Hedge’ fell to 5th place with $10.3 million. The wild animal romp has brought in $130 million in four weeks.

Warner Bros’ ‘Poseidon’ remake ankled the weekends top 10 with sales of $1.8 million. The disaster thriller brought in $54.9 million in five weeks far short of its estimated $160 million budget.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. are as follows:

1. 'Cars,' $62.8 million.
2. 'The Break-Up,' $20.5 million.
3. 'X-Men: The Last Stand,'$15.55 million.
4. 'The Omen,' $15.45 million.
5. 'Over the Hedge,' $10.3 million
6. 'The Da Vinci Code,' $10.3 million.
7. 'A Prairie Home Companion,' $4.7 million.
8. 'Mission: Impossible III,' $3 million.
9. 'RV,' $2 million.
10. 'Poseidon,' $1.8 million.