MADAGASCAR 3 A Little Scared By PROMETHEUS But In The End Wins Box Office

I haven't seen MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED just yet, but I will this week. You can tell audiences were craving some family fodder as they haven't had a new entry in quite some time. In fact, my 6 year old son was invited to go see THE AVENGERS this past weekend because there was nothing else posted on the local theater site 2 weeks in advance. I'm sure they would have chosen MADAGASCAR 3 had they been aware of it. Anyway, we couldn't allow him to go as the movie just isn't appropriate for any child under 10, with a parent or not (in my books).

But I digress. MADAGASCAR 3 opened to the tune of $60,316,738 domestically and $135,816,738 worldwide. Impressive numbers and it just about matches the other two franchise entries that Dreamworks Animation has created for us.

Part of the reason for that excellent box office number is the 3D of course, but further than that MADAGASCAR 3 was the third widest theatrical release of all time! Yes, 4,258 theaters housed the animation and only SHREK FOREVER AFTER (4,359 theaters) and HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (4,325 theaters) had more. That helps. Clearly it is a beloved franchise worldwide.


Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS did remarkably well too this weekend taking in $51,050,101 domestically and $142,550,101 worldwide thus far. This movie I have seen and believe me it is worth the trip to see it on the big screen! Domestically, it is the 10th best opening for an 'R' rated movie of all time. Not bad at all.

Word of mouth should keep PROMETHEUS rolling along as discussions turn to arguments! I know I will be seeing it again this week at some point.

I love seeing 3D movies at the top of the charts time and time again. In fact 4 out of the top 5 movies this weekend were 3D movies. Did you know that THE AVENGERS still raked in over $11m this weekend? Amazing. They'll be passing $1.4b this week.

Stats Source: Box Office Mojo