The futuristic adventure pulled in a massive $82.7 million over the five day holiday and $56.9 million in its sophomore weekend.
Unfortunately, “Turkey Day’s” two new entries disappointed in their debuts. The spin-off of DreamWorks Animation’s “Madagascar” franchise made $25.8 million in its first weekend from 3,762 locations and $36 million over the five day holiday. It had been expected to generate in the mid to high $40 million range in ticket sales. The film cost $132 million to produce, so it will look to overseas audiences as it tries to become profitable. DreamWorks Animation is coming off to failed sales to Softbank and Hasbro, so the weaker than expected results will be acutely felt.
“Horrible Bosses 2″ pulled in $15.7 million this weekend, which was only good enough for a fifth place finish. The New Line and Warner Bros. release generated $23 million for the five day period from 3,375 locations, a shadow of the $35 million it was expected to make. The good news is that with a $42 million production budget, the “Bosses” sequel was relatively inexpensive to cook up.
Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman said the film seemed to play particularly well to audiences under the age of 25 and expressed optimism that it will show some endurance next weekend when there are no major studio releases.
“I wish the number was a little bit higher,” said Fellman. “I think we’ll get a good multiple though and end up where we wanted to be, we’ll just get there a little differently.”