Up Blows Up with $68.2 Million 2009-05-31

It was a given Up was going to be the weekend's No. 1 movie. It was not a given it was going to bigger, all-time, than all but two Pixar movies.

But it was.

The animated tale of a 78-year-old curmudgeon grossed an estimated $68.2 million Friday-Sunday, blowing past the likes of WALL-E and Cars.

Elsewhere, Star Trek hit a new milestone, Terminator Salvation fell hard and fast, and Drag Me to Hell, Sam Raimi's return to gore, was no Spider-Man. Or Catwoman, for that matter.

Drilling down into the numbers:

• So, are senior citizens really more marketable than talking race cars? "I think the sell was easier than that," Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said today. "We sold a great story. We showed a great comedy."

• Among Disney/Pixar's nine wide-release debuts, Up ranks behind only The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.3 million). Its weekend was a $5 million improvement over last summer's WALL-E.

• Up scored the year's first A-plus from moviegoers polled by CinemaScore, Disney said.

• Drag Me to Hell ($16.6 million) did okay, but was unable to drag down Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($25.5 million). The horror movie settled for third place, while the Stiller comedy, its crown usurped by Up, took second.

• On the upside, Drag Me to Hell is Raimi's top-opening film to not take place at the Daily Bugle. On the downside, even Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, to name a fellow R-rated flick, bowed with more money.

• Battle of the Smithsonian and Angels & Demons ($11.2 million) became the eighth and the ninth 2009 films, respectively, to gross at least $100 million. Smithsonian's two-weekend take stands at $105.3 million. After three weekends, Angels & Demons has grossed $104.8 million.

• On Wednesday, Star Trek overtook Monsters vs. Aliens as the year's top-grossing movie. On Friday, the sci-fi reboot became the year's first $200 million movie. As of today, its overall haul is estimated at $209.5 million.

• With Up around, Monsters vs. Aliens lost more than half its theaters. It managed another $315,000, and fell out of the Top 10 after a nine-weekend run.

• Terminator Salvation ($16.1 million) suffered the biggest second week drop of any Terminator movie, including the unbeloved third installment: 62 percent.

Here's a complete look at the weekend's top-grossing films based on Friday-Sunday estimates as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Up, $68.2 million
2. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, $25.5 million
3. Drag Me to Hell, $16.6 million
4. Terminator Salvation, $16.1 million
5. Star Trek, $12.8 million
6. Angels & Demons, $11.2 million
7. Dance Flick, $4.9 million
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, $3.9 million
9. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, $1.9 million
10. Obsessed, $665,000 million

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