"Shrek Forever After" Beats "Iron Man 2" And Tops The Box Office

"Shrek Forever After" made its way to the top spot with $70.8M in its opening weekend. The animated fantasy movie played in only 4,359 theaters on its opening day in the United States, grossing an estimated $20,750,000.

Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing for DreamWorks Animation, said they were happy with the movie's opening since it debuted at No.1 and also had the fourth best opening for an animated movie behind "Shrek the Third", "Shrek 2", and "The Simpsons Movie".

"Shrek Forever After" the fourth and final installment in the Shrek movie series, was released on May 21, 2010 in the United States in 3-D and IMAX 3-D theaters.

The superhero movie "Iron Man 2" dropped to No. 2 after two weeks on top. The movie pulled in $26.4M this week with a 49 percent decrease from last week's numbers.

US Weekend Box-Office Summary Week of 26 March 2010

1. How to Train Your Dragon (2010) - Gross $43.3M
2. Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Gross $293M
3. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) - Gross $13.7M
4. The Bounty Hunter (2010) - Gross $38.8M
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) - Gross $35.8M
6. She's Out of My League (2010) - Gross $25.6M
7. Green Zone (2010) - Gross $30.4M
8. Shutter Island (2010) - Gross $121M
9. Repo Men (2010) - Gross $11.3M
10. Our Family Wedding (2010) - Gross $16.8M

How to Train Your Dragon is a computer-animated fantasy movie loosely based on the 2003 children's novel of the same title, which was written by British author Cressida Cowell.

The story takes place in a mythical Viking world where a hapless young Viking named "Hiccup" aspires to follow his tribe's tradition of becoming a dragon slayer. After finally capturing his first dragon (Toothless), and with his chance at finally gaining the tribe's acceptance, he finds that he no longer has the desire to kill it and instead befriends it.

The movie was directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. It stars the voice talents of Jay Baruchel (Hiccup), America Ferrera (Astrid), Gerard Butler (Stoick), Craig Ferguson (Gobber), Jonah Hill (Snotlout), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fishlegs), Kristen Wiig (Ruffnut) and T.J. Miller (Tuffnut).

How to Train Your Dragon was released on March 26, 2010 by DreamWorks Animation and topped the North American box office in its first weekend of release.

Box Office Summary Week of 7 November 2008

No.1 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - 2008 Gross $63.1M

No.2 Role Models - 2008 Gross $19.2M

No.3 High School Musical 3: Senior Year - 2008 Gross $75.6M
No.4 Changeling - 2008 Gross $20.6M
No.5 Zack and Miri Make a Porno - 2008 Gross $20.7M
No.6 Soul Men - 2008 Gross $5.4M
No.7 Saw V - 2008 Gross $52.2M
No.8 The Haunting of Molly Hartley - 2008 Gross $10.1M
No.9 The Secret Life of Bees - 2008 Gross $29.9M
No.10 Eagle Eye - 2008 Gross $96.3M


Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is the 2008 sequel to the 2005 movie, Madagascar. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and was released on November 7, 2008. It was written by Etan Cohen. On its opening day, the movie grossed $17,555,027 from 4,056 theaters with an $4,328 average. As of November 12, 2008, it has achieved a domestic gross of $79.9 million and a worldwide gross of $120.1. The movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is Rated PG for some mild crude humor by The Motion Picture Association of America.