The Lorax Rakes In $70.7 Million During Opening Weekend
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax opened this weekend with numbers that far exceeded box office expectations. The 3-D movie (also shown in 2D) managed to rake in $707 million according to the films distributor Universal Pictures.
In comparison Project X, an R-rated party flick that is the exact opposite of The Lorax brought in $20.8 million.
Before this weekend The Vow held the 2012 biggest weekend opening with $41 million last month.
2012 has started out slow for animated movies with only a reformatted 3-D version of “Beauty and the Beast” and an American dubbed version of Japanese anime film “The Secret World of Arrietty” being released to audiences in the United States.
Based on Dr. Seuss‘ 1971 children’s book about a fuzzy creature on a mission to save treets the movie following 2008’s Horton Hears A Who! which debuted with a far less impressive $45 million but eventually pulled in more than $300 million worldwide.
As expected CinemaScore says the movie specifically resonated with families with 68% of the audience being made up of parents and their children.
What might be most impressive is that The Lorax cost just $70 million to produce.
In the meantime Project X will likely rely on word-of-mouth advertising to keep profits churning. The movie has focused on Twitter and Facebook buzz. Warner Bros. produced the movie for just $12 million and most of the films advertising came in online form.
Earning big from the Oscars was The Artist which earned more this weekend than it has on any weekend since its Thanksgiving release. The black-and-white silent film was shown on 1,756 screens and took in $3.9 million. The Artist has now raked in $37.1 million.
