Sunday, January 14, 2007

Animation's World Grosses

Variety has listed the winners at the international box office for '06 (but not on its website), and animated features scored big. Factor in the animation/live-action hybrids, and animation scored even bigger (we could maybe consider Garfield, A Tale of Two Kitties in this category)...

Of the top ten theatrical films from January 2006 to December 2006, three were animated features (and #1 -- The Pirates of the Caribbean -- had lots of animation in it.)

The third highest grosser of the year was Ice Age: The Meltdown, which took in $647 million worldwide.

Cars had the fifth position, with $462 million...

And Over the Hedge raked in $334 million to take the ninth slot.

Beyond the Top Ten, animated features took #11 (Happy Feet, still in release but garnering $292 million in '06); Open Season was at #19 with a $180 million gross ($96 million overseas, $84 million here); Flushed Away appeared at #29 ($139 million); Monster House held down the 31st slot with $136 million; Hoodwinked landed at position #42 with $108 million, and Barnyard came in 45th with $105 million.

Chicken Little, an '05 release, would have tied with Nacho Libre if it had been counted for '06, since the $99 million it took in last year would have tied with with the Jack Black flick at #50.

As for the rest of the animated features in the top 100 for 2006, most were considered "failures:"

For instance, The Wild was #49 with a $99 million world gross and touted as a loser, and The Ant Bully was considered to be a non-starter for Tom Hanks' Playtone pictures, collecting $55 million for an 88th place finish.

The animated feature in the bottom half of the list to escape the "loser" label was the hand-drawn Curious George, probably because expectations were never sky-high, so its $70 million gross and 69th place finish was viewed as a qualified victory by NBC-Universal.

And the hybrid Garfield II? That ended up at #28, with $140 million world gross. (It tanked domestically, taking in $28,000,000, but achieved $112,000,000 overseas. Fox undoubtedly breathed easier after foreign gross was counted.)

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