'Lorax' cleans up at box office with US$70.7m debut

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Dr Seuss' The Lorax raked in all kinds of green, earning US$70.7 million in its first weekend, to score the biggest box-office debut of the year by far.

The 3-D animated family film from Universal Pictures, featuring the voices of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift, is based on Seuss' cautionary fable about the importance of preserving the environment. Of its opening haul, US$5.4 million, or eight per cent, came from IMAX screens, which is on the high side for a family film.

Coming in second place with a strong debut of its own was the R-rated Project X, about a trio of high-school misfits who throw a raging party in hopes of becoming popular. The Warner Bros comedy made about US$20.8 million, according to Sunday studio estimates.

The Lorax comes from the makers of Despicable Me, - Illumination Entertainment, led by producer Christopher Meledandri - and director Chris Renaud. It actually had a bigger opening than that film, which debuted with US$56.4 million in July 2010. It also scored the biggest opening for a Dr Seuss adaptation, topping the US$55.1 million that How the Grinch Stole Christmas made in 2000.

Before this, The Vow had the best debut of 2012 with US$41.2 million.

"I was stunned from Friday," when The Lorax made US$17.4 million, said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of domestic distribution. It then made a huge leap on Saturday, earning US$31.3 million. "Who would have expected a result like this?"

Rocco attributed the movie's success to "a combination of a) a great film, b) an incredible marketing campaign and b-plus) the need for another family film in the marketplace. I think that has a lot to do with it ... . People love Dr Seuss, and audiences now know about Illumination and Chris Meledandri, what he delivers."

The strong showing for The Lorax continues a trend of movies overperforming so far this year, said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. Revenues are up 19 per cent from this point in 2011.

"It's so different from what we were seeing last year and especially the end of last year. Now it's like a box-office bonanza," Dergarabedian said. "What a great turnaround from where we were last year with the down-trending week after week and the lowest attendance in 15 years. If we keep up this pace, we're going to be looking at a massive summer."

Some huge sequels are coming out this summer, Dergarabedian pointed out, including The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Dergarabedian had expected The Lorax would open somewhere in the US$45 million-to-$50 million range and that Project X, in a bit of counter-programming, would end up in the high teens: "Warner Bros. perfectly put their R-rated, raunchy comedy right there in the same weekend as The Lorax and both films did very well."

Last week's No. 1 movie, Act of Valor, dropped to third place with US$13.7 million. The action picture from Relativity Media, which stars real, active-duty US Navy SEALs, has made over US$45.2 million in total.

This year's best-picture winner at the Academy Awards, the silent, black-and-white The Artist, got a 34 per cent bump from its victory last weekend. The Weinstein Co film made US$3.9 million to come in 10th place and now has grossed over US$37 million total.

Here are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Hollywood.com:

1. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, US$70.7 million.

2. Project X, US$20.8 million.

3. Act of Valor, US$13.7 million.

4. Safe House, US$7.2 million.

5. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds, US$7 million.

6. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, US$6.9 million.

7. The Vow, US$6.1 million.

8. This Means War, US$5.6 million.

9. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, US$4.7 million.

10. The Artist, US$3.9 million.