Penguins dance their way to No. 1 at box office

By Josh Friedman

Nov. 20, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The new man in the James Bond penguin suit was a box-office hit, but it was the dancing penguins that stole the show this weekend.

Families flocked to Warner Bros.’ “Happy Feet,” buying $42.3 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada for the animated musical about Antarctic penguins, according to Sunday’s studio estimate.

Close behind was “Casino Royale,” with Daniel Craig taking over the role of British secret agent 007 from Pierce Brosnan. It came in second with a gross of $40.6 million, Sony Pictures estimated.

The three-day estimates include projections for Sunday, so the results could change when final tallies are released today.

“This was a big surprise,” said Dan Fellman, distribution president at Warner Bros. “We didn’t expect to win the weekend against this kind of competition, and we have not been big in the animation business.”

Industry watchers had debated all last week how the cuddly penguins would perform against the gritty Craig as the sixth incarnation of Bond. The 007 franchise is one of Hollywood’s most lucrative, grossing $3.7 billion worldwide.

“Casino Royale,” the 21st Bond film produced by the Broccoli family, scored the second-best opening in the long-running series. MGM helped finance the $150-million movie, which shows Bond’s transformation into Agent 007.

“This opening speaks volumes as to how Craig is being accepted as Bond,” said Rory Bruer, president of domestic distribution at Sony. “He has a raw, diamond-in-the-rough quality and he manages to show many facets of the character. His popularity will continue to build.”

The blond, previously little-known Craig, long derided by a contingent of Bond fans partial to Brosnan, has earned critical praise for his performance.

Women were 45% of the “Casino Royale” audience and rated the film almost as highly as men did, Bruer said. Overall, 84% of moviegoers considered it “excellent” or “very good.”

Brosnan’s first two outings as 007 opened in the $25-million range before he caught on with more moviegoers, Bruer noted.

The last Bond flick and Brosnan’s fourth, “Die Another Day,” opened to a franchise record $47 million in November 2002. But that came against weak competition.

If “Casino Royale” holds up strongly at the box office it could finish with numbers similar to “Die Another Day.” That picture -- the biggest hit in the 44-year-old series -- grossed $161 million domestically and $432 million worldwide.

Children made up 40% of the audience for “Happy Feet.” About $2.4 million of the movie’s grosses came from its 79 Imax locations, a record for an animated film on the oversized screens.

Warner Bros.’ Fellman said he was optimistic that “Happy Feet,” directed by Australian George Miller, would hold up well at the box office through the holiday season. More than 90% of moviegoers rated it “excellent” or “very good” in theater exit polls, he said.

And with Walt Disney Co.’s “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” and DreamWorks Animation and Paramount Pictures’ “Flushed Away” softening in their third weekends, the penguins’ prospects in the weeks ahead look good, Fellman said.

“We’ll be on the screen till the ice melts,” he said.

The weekend’s other wide release, Universal Pictures’ comedy “Let’s Go to Prison,” failed to crack the top 10, grossing $2.1 million.

Among holdovers, 20th Century Fox’s mock documentary “Borat” added $14.4 million to finish third and bring its total after three weekends to $90.5 million. “The Santa Clause 3” and “Flushed Away” fell to fourth and fifth, respectively, as “Happy Feet” captured the family crowd.

Among specialty releases, Miramax’s political drama “The Queen” expanded to 606 theaters and clawed back into the top 10, grossing $2.3 million.

Several other films debuted in limited release, with analysts eyeing their per-theater averages for clues as to how they might fare amid the crowded holiday season competition.

Weinstein Co. and MGM’s “Bobby,” an ensemble drama set against the backdrop of the Robert Kennedy assassination, averaged a solid $33,500 per theater in its launch at two theaters in Los Angeles and New York.

“The exit polls are tremendous -- they are some of the highest in our history,” said Weinstein co-founder Harvey Weinstein. “ ‘Bobby’ seems to have struck a chord with the public.”

The movie’s first serious test will come next weekend, when the film expands to 1,650 engagements.

But Fox Searchlight’s “Fast Food Nation,” adapted from Eric Schlosser’s food industry expose, mustered a paltry $390,000 in its debut at 321 locations, averaging $1,215 per theater.

In its seventh weekend, New Line Cinema’s “Little Children” added more theaters, averaging $4,351 at 37 locations. The studio hopes the disturbing but well-reviewed drama starring Kate Winslet can land on critics’ Top 10 lists and garner year-end awards nominations, which could give it momentum and marketing fodder for a broader release.

Industrywide, ticket sales were down about 20% from the same weekend in 2005, when “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” opened to $102 million. Year-to-date, receipts are up 5.8%.

For the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Warner Bros. and Sony will face stern competition for the top spot as Disney’s “Deja Vu,” a thriller starring Denzel Washington, heads a batch of new releases coming Wednesday.

josh.friedman@latimes.com

Begin text of infobox

Box office

Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Happy Feet $42.3 $42.3

Casino Royale 40.6 40.6

Borat 14.4 90.5

The Santa Clause 3 8.2 51.6

Flushed Away 6.8 48.8

Stranger Than Fiction 6.6 22.9

Babel 2.9 12.0

Saw III 2.8 74.9