With much of the U.S. going through one of the hottest summers on record, audiences were craving another “Ice Age”
Fox’s animated sequel “Ice Age: Continental Drift” is off to a great start, racking up a cool $16.5 million at the domestic box office on Friday. That will likely put the film — featuring the voices of Ray Romano, Denis Leary and others — in the $45 million range for the weekend.
That will put it on par with the first “Ice Age,” which opened to $46.3 million in 2002 (without the benefit of 3D ticket prices). 2006’s “Ice Age: The Meltdown” opened to a stellar $68 million, while 2009’s “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” opened to the more-in-line $41 million.
Meanwhile, “Amazing Spider-Man” dropped to No. 2 with another $10.3 million. The Sony reboot has so far earned an impressive $176 million. Its big box office days are numbered, however, as WB’s mega sequel “The Dark Knight Rises” opens next Friday. While “Amazing” will certainly pass the $200 million mark at home, it likely won’t earn as much as the previous “Spider-Man” pictures.
Seth McFarlane’s raunchy comedy “Ted” continues to impress, earning another $6.9 million, for a domestic total of $143.7 million.
This summer’s other surprise hit, Channing Tatum’s “Magic Mike,” likewise continues it success story, scoring another $3.4 million. The Steven Soderbergh-directed male stripper drama has made a hunky $86.2 million so far.
Disney’s animated hit “Brave” rounds out the top five, adding $3.2 million to its domestic gross of $188.1 million.
Look for complete weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.