Disney finds itself atop the weekend box office for the eleventh time this year, this time it’s the Pixar brand coming up big with Finding Dory. The release is another 2016 animated hit for the studio on the heels of Zootopia, as Dory broke its share of box office records this weekend including the largest opening weekend for an animated feature.
Scoring a number one finish for the weekend and a record opening for an animated feature, Disney and Pixar’s Finding Dory brought in an estimated $136.1 million this weekend from 4,305 theaters for a $31,634 per theater average. It’s an opening comparable to the 90+% bumps both sequels in the Toy Story franchise saw over their predecessors with Dory’s opening weekend serving as a 93.8% bump over Finding Nemo’s $70.2 million opening back in 2003.
Dory also scored an “A” CinemaScore and played to an audience that was 45% male vs. 55% female. The age breakdown saw 65% of the audience being made up by families and 32% of the overall audience made up of children 12 and under.
On the record front, on top of the animated opening weekend record, Dory broke the record for the largest single day and opening day for an animated film with its opening day totaling an estimated $54.9 million. Included in that opening day total is $9.2 million in Thursday previews, also a record for an animated feature. Of course, it’s a bit of a conflict to call both items “records” when you consider Dory wouldn’t hold the single day record over Shrek the Third’s $47 million if you don’t include the additional $9.2 million. Also going down was the record for the largest per theater average for a wide opening animated release, topping Shrek the Third’s $29,507 average after it opened to a then record of $121.6 million from 4,122 theaters.
Dory also opened in 29 international territories this weekend scoring an estimated $50 million for a global opening gross of $186.2 million. Its international roll-out includes the largest Pixar opening ever in China ($17.5M) and the biggest Disney/Pixar opening weekend ever in Australia ($7.6M). The release, so far, makes up 32% of the international marketplace with openings in France and Spain taking place next weekend along with the rest of Europe in the coming weeks.
