Paramount Pictures' "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" topped the box office with an impressive $63.5 million estimated debut, turning in $3.6 million of that total from IMAX sales (6% of the total opening weekend boxoffice). Daily breakdowns are as follows: Friday - $17.4 million, Saturday $27.6 million, Sunday $18.4 million.
Attendance may be down by 4.19% but the box office has a massive up weekend, boosing revenue .27% from last year at the same time. Comparing top November openers, "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" is currently the fifth highest opener under "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secreta" and "The Incredibles."
The original film opened on May 27th, 2005 with $47.2 million before ending off with a $193.2 million domestic take. As far as top animated openers of all times goes, the film is in seventh place with "Shrek the Third" leading the list followed by "Shrek 2," "The Simpsons Movie," "The Incredibles," "Finding Nemo" and "Ice Age: The Meltdown."
Performing above expectations was the comedy "Role Models" starring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Bobb'e J. Thompson. The film by David Wain pushed in over $19.2 million from 2,792 venues at an average of $6.895 per theatre.
Previous number one film "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" showed a 39.33% change in third position with around $9.3 million for Disney. The musical starring Zac Efron, Vannesa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale now passes over $75.7 million in U.S. figures.
Fourth placed "Changeling" starring Angelina Jolie showed a small 22.14% change with $7.28 million posted. Drama kept the same rank and has accumulated over $20 million.
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno" finished off the top five films with $6.5 million, showing a 35.22% change and dropping 3 rankings from second place.
Indie-wise, Miramax's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" impressed with $255,000 from a mere 17 theatres. Jean-Claude Van Damme starrer "JCVD" enjoyed a fruitful opening with $23,346 from two theatres.
The top 12 films at the box office are up 32.10% in comparison to 2007.