King Of The Jungle

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa wins the weekend at the box office as expected...

Pamela McClintock of Variety:

There was no escaping the strength of DreamWorks Animation and Paramount’s “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” as it bowed domestically to an estimated $63.5 million to give Jeffrey Katzenberg’s shop a new film franchise.

Playing in 4,056 theaters, “Madagascar 2” narrowly scored the best opening of the year for a family toon, as well as the seventh best bow of all time. In terms of this year, Disney-Pixar’s “WALL-E” opened to $63 million in June, while DWA’s “Kung Fu Panda” bowed to $60.2 million in May.

But the biggest surprise of the weekend was the over-performance of Universal’s Seann William Scott-Paul Rudd laffer “Role Models,” which grossed an estimated $19.3 million from 2,792 runs. Most, including U, though the R-rated raunchy comedy would gross between $10 million and $12 million.

Weekend’s other new wide release, “Soul Men,” was the odd man out. The MGM/Dimension Films comedy, starring Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac, under performed in grossing an estimated $5.6 million from 2,044 runs to come in No. 6 for the sesh.

Among new specialty releases, Miramax’s holocaust drama “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” based on John Boyne’s book, posted a per screen average of $15,000 in grossing an estimated $225,000 from17 theaters. .

Thanks to “Madagascar 2,” the domestic box office was up more than 30% from the same weekend last year.

“Madagascar” further cements the successful relationship between DreamWorks Animation and Paramount. Toon marks the fifth Paramount release of the year that has opened north of $40 million, a first for any studios, according to Par.

“Madagascar 2’s” theater count is the widest ever for a post-Labor Day bow.

Directed by David Wain, “Role Models” caught Hollywood by surprise, considering the overabundance of R-rated laffers.

“Role Models” did nearly double the business that the Weinstein Co.’s “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” did when debuting at the domestic box office the previous weekend. The R-rated “Zack and Mir” dipped 35% over the weekend to an estimated $6.5 million from 2,735 for a cume of $21 million. “Zack and Miri” came in No. 5.

Coming in third at the box office after “Madagascar 2” and “Role Models” was Disney’s powerhouse “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.” Musical dipped 39% in its third frame to an estimated $9.3 million for a cume of

Universal’s “Changeling,” directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie, came in No. 4, declining just 22% to an estimated $7.3 million from 1,855 for a cume of $20.6 million in its third frame...

Meanwhile--Quantum Of Solace rocks foreign box office

Bond pic grosses $106.5 million overseas...

Joshua Rich of EW:

We ain't lion: The animated sequel won the weekend with a huge $63.5 million haul...

Frankly--I am more impressed over the showing of Role Models Besting the opening last week of the adult comedy Zack & Miri Make a Porno--wow!