Ice Age and Transformers Tie for No. 1 Box Office

Both pics make an estimated $42.5 million

By Keith Williams

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 7/5/09 — Decepticons, Dinosaurs and Depression-Age Gangsters battled it out over the Fourth of July weekend with the top banana being split between Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs defrosting $42.5 million at 4099 glaciers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen pulverising exactly the same amount at 4234 pyramids despite a 61% drop. Public Enemies, the new period thriller starring Johnny Depp tommy-gunned $26 million from 3319 banks, that’s $41 million in small change since opened last Wednesday.

Now in its second week of world domination at the box-office, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen continued to trash all in its path, good and bad alike. Whilst marginally better than its predecessor - you can actually tell the robots apart this time - the lack of story, endless set-pieces and puerile humor one would have thought word-of-mouth alone would have sunk it by now. Apparently not. Independence Day entertainment has traditionally been monsters, aliens, car chases and/or tidal waves, with things blowing up, knocked down, or just plain flattened. Transformers 2 ticks most of those boxes so who are sophisticates to argue with that? Already in ten days the biggest movie of the year, having just stomped past Up, US grosses of $293 million are nothing to be sneered at.

Ice Age 3D put up a brave fight, and in the circumstances did very well against those robots, but failed to match the mammoth opening weekend figures of its 2006 predecessor, Ice Age: The Meltdown, which took $68 million en route to $651 million worldwide. The original Ice Age, for box-office completists, opened to $46 million back in 2002, trekking its way to $383 million around the globe. Plus those figures for IA3 include the extra cost of 3D glasses. Still, a valued franchise for Fox, whose animated features made in association with Blue Sky Productions now rival both commercially and creatively those made by DreamWorks, the current pretender to the Pixar Throne.

Over in the serious corner, Public Enemies took an okay if unspectacular amount of loot from box-offices across the land, proving that audiences want escapism, not realism at the movies this time of year. Not even a great cast, featuring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale or a high-profile director, Michael Mann, could summon up much enthusiasm from ticket-buyers who eschewed 30’s bank robbers and their molls for seeing half of Egypt obliterated in Transformers 2. Whoever thought a film like this, and an arthouse one more than it is a crime thriller, would lure partygoers from their barbecues and firework displays over the funnest time of year is clearly insane. What was wrong with Fall, or the period immediately leading up to Xmas? Michael Mann, at the best of times, is not renowned for lightheartedness (e.g. see Act 3 of Hancock), audiences prefer Depp when he’s wacky, not straight, and with a vibe of “dreary” hanging over Public Enemies, it’s hardly surprising it didn’t make that many new friends.

Elsewhere in the top ten, The Proposal declined by 31.2% to accept $12.7 million, The Hangover by 38.8% to $10.4 million ($204 million in nappies so far), Up a faster fall of 49.6% to $6.5 million, and My Sister’s Keeper dashing hopes of becoming My Sister’s Sleeper by tumbling 57.8% to $5.2 million. At 8 in the charts, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 slowed down by 54% to grab a feeble $2.5 million, followed by Year One plunging the deepest by 65.1% to a neanderthalic $2.1 million. Finally at 10, the doors seem to be closing early at the Smithsonian with Night at the Museum dimming by 42.4% to $2.1 million, with a grand total of $167 million after 7 weeks.

Weekend Estimates courtesy boxofficemojo.com
WEEKEND TOP 5 STUDIO ESTIMATES, JULY 3-5, 2009

Rank. Movie Title (Distributor)
Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox)
$42.5 million | 4,099 | $67.5 million | 1

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount (DreamWorks))
$42.5 million | 4,234 | $293.5 million | 2

3. Public Enemies (Universal)
$26.2 million | 3,334 | $41.0 million | 1

4. The Proposal (Buena Vista)
$12.8 million | 3,099 | $94.2 million | 3

5. The Hangover (Warner Bros.)
$10.4 million | 3,070 | $204.2 million | 5