Pixar’s ‘Cars’ Grosses $63 Million for Disney

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) — The Disney-Pixar studios’ movie “Cars” racked up an estimated $62.8 million in ticket sales over the weekend, putting it in fifth place on the list of the most-lucrative opening weekends for animated films.

The Disney (DIS) film opened in 3,985 theaters on Friday, according to preliminary data from Box Office Mojo.

The nearly $63 million for the weekend puts “Cars” behind Dreamworks SKG’s (DWA) “Shrek 2” and two other Disney-Pixar releases, “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo.” The Fox studio release, “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” was fourth in the all-time animations list, grossing $68 million in its opening March weekend earlier this year.

This weekend’s other new wide release, 20th Century Fox’s remake of the horror flick “The Omen,” was in fourth place with $15.45 million. The movie has grossed $35.7 million since its opening Tuesday.

Rounding out the top four spots in the box-office race were “The Break-Up,” with $20.5 million in receipts and “X-Men: The Last Stand” with $15.55 million.

 

Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.