Cars 2 opened slightly better than the 2006 original, which earned $60.1 million (in pre-inflation dollars) in its debut. The $68 million estimate for Cars 2 ranks fifth among the all-time openings for the successful studio behind Toy Story 3 ($110 million opening), The Incredibles ($70.4 million), Finding Nemo ($70.2 million) and Up ($68.1 million). One could attribute the multitude of 3D and IMAX screens that Cars 2 debuted on. But given the measly 38% contribution to the overall total generated from 3D screenings (getting the hint, Hollywood?), chances are that it is most likely the lucrative family and kiddie markets that helped drive the gross. This would be the same demographic that helped the original earn $246 million at the domestic box office while also contributing a whopping ten billion dollars for film-related merchandise over the last half-decade.
Rounding out the top ten were Universal's sleeper hit Bridesmaids in eighth place with $5.5 million on 2,031 screens for a new to-date haul of $147 million, followed in ninth place by Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with $4.7 million in ticket sales and a new to-date domestic haul of $229 million. The Johnny Depp-starrer has now surpassed the previous chapter in the Pirates saga globally with $971 million in overall sales. The one billion dollar mark should be passed within the next week or so. Rounding out the top ten was Sony Pictures Classics' Woody Allen hit Midnight In Paris, which snared $4.2 million on 1,038 screens to bring its overall total thus far to $28.4 million.
Starting on Tuesday, Paramount's Transformers: Dark of the Moon begins its campaign to own the Fourth of July weekend. Universal Studios and Fox will offer counter-programming starting on Friday with the new Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts comedy Larry Crowne and the romantic comedy chick flick Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez and Leighton Meester.
