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"Ice Age" sequel heats up box office

Posted on: Sunday, 2 April 2006, 13:33 CDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The animated sequel "Ice Age: The Meltdown" registered the biggest opening of the year at the North American box office, selling an estimated $70.5 million worth of tickets during its first three days, distributor 20th Century Fox said on Sunday.

The opening exceeded the News Corp.-owned studio's expectations of about $55 million. Its 2002 predecessor, "Ice Age," opened with $46 million, and went on to earn $176 million. The sequel, which features the voices of Ray Romano and John Leguizamo as prehistoric creatures, cost about $80 million to make, Fox said.

Until "Ice Age: The Meltdown," the biggest three-day opening this year had been recorded by the comedy "Madea's Family Reunion," with $30 million in February.

Overall business was quiet in the first quarter, with few movies garnering much mainstream support. Even most of the major Academy Award-nominated films failed to click with moviegoers.

Ticket sales through last weekend stood at about $2 billion, up less than one percent from the year-ago period, according to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The number of tickets sold fell by two percent to about 300 million, it said.

"Ice Age: The Meltdown" earned more than the combined total of the other movies in the top 10. Last weekend's champion, Universal Pictures' heist thriller "Inside Man," slipped to No. 2 with $15.7 million. Warner Bros.' urban drama "ATL" opened at No. 3 with $12.5 million.

As expected, Sharon Stone bombed again, this time with "Basic Instinct 2," the belated sequel to her last hit, 1992's "Basic Instinct." The erotic thriller earned just $3.2 million, said distributor Columbia Pictures, tying at No. 10 with Lionsgate's comedy "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector."

Universal Pictures is a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal Inc. Warner Bros. Pictures is a unit of Time Warner Inc. Columbia Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp. Lionsgate is a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Source: REUTERS

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