The top three movies of the weekend and four of the top six were all in 3D, led by two new entries, “Tron: Legacy” with $43.6 million and “Yogi Bear” with $16.7 million in domestic theaters, according to Hollywood.com Box Office.
And another family 3D movie opens Wednesday: “Gulliver’s Travels.”
“Tron: Legacy” generated $43.6 million, a notable achievement not only for the weekend prior to a holiday but also because it was nearly three times more than the next closest competitor and more than nine times higher than the $4.8 million of the original on its opening weekend in the summer of 1982.
And a very strong 82% of the grosses came from 3D theaters.
Further, a record 25% of the total domestic gross — $10.45 mil. — came from 234 IMAX theaters, including more than $1 million of the $3 mil.-plus on midnight showings opening day. And another $2.2 mil. came from 54 IMAX theaters overseas,making $12.7 mil. overall from IMAX.
“Tron’s” global tally was $66.6 mil., with $23 mil. coming from overseas, an underwhelming figure but an additional 70 international IMAX playdates will open in the weeks ahead in China and several Western European markets such as France, Germany and Austria.
The film is said to have cost $170 mil. top produce. Hype began three years ago at Comic-Con and continued to grow at the event each year, with the intensive hype starting in a big way more than a year ago at Disney’s D23 Expo.
Warner’s Yogi Bear should also play well the next two weekends, as could Fox’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which dropped less than half from its opening weekend with $12.4 mil. to place third for the weekend, nearly $43 mil. overall, and climb past $100 mil. worldwide already.
Disney’s other holiday 3D release, “Tangled,” is already up to nearly $130 mil. domestically alone thanks to another $8.7 mil. this weekend. It should also play well the next two weekends, though all three of those recent family releases will get more competition from “Gulliver’s Travels” on Dec. 22.
— By Scott Hettrick