DreamWorks' G rated animated feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron opened in fourth place to a fast paced ESTIMATED $23.3 million at 3,317 theaters ($7,024 per theater). (DreamWorks estimated its three-day gross at $17.8 million.)
Directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook, it was produced by Mireille Soria and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
"We're very happy and pleased with the (three-day total of) $17.8 million," DreamWorks distribution head Jim Tharp said Sunday morning. "Going into the weekend, many people (predicting the box office) had us doing about $18 million for the four days.
"I think as schools let out across the country, more of our audience becomes available and it looks good for the long term of the movie."
Weather patterns across the country over the rest of the holiday weekend will also play a part in how Spirit winds up performing. "If it rains like we think it will in a big part of the Eastern part of the country, our number could actually go up a little," he explained.
Looking at the very strong early summer box office, Tharp noted, "The industry is up 15 or 16 percent already. You have to think that this summer based on the number of high profile movies and (just) the number of movies should be up that much over last year if not more."
Last summer saw ticket sales from Memorial Day through Labor Day of about $3 billion. Including the pre-summer weeks starting in mid-May brought the total to about $3.3 billion. A 15 percent increase this summer would mean a pre-summer and summer total of about $3.8 billion.
Hollywood has on tap this summer, Tharp said, "movies that will appeal to a wide variety of people. That's how you actually increase attendance."
And looking down the road, he added, "It could literally be a $10 billion year. I think it's a real possibility." Last year Hollywood set a record with box office grosses hitting $8.4 billion. Tharp pointed out that in the coming months this year will continue to be "very crowded and there's a wide spectrum of movies from late September through the Holiday season." A number of major franchise films are due to arrive in the fourth quarter, including the next installments of James Bond, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.