DreamWorks Animations’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa debuted as the top movie in North America, raking in an estimated $63.5 million domestically and another $40 million overseas for a worldwide total exceeding $100 million. The sequel is performing considerably better than its predecessor, which opened to $47 million in May of 2005 and ended up grossing more than $532 million worldwide. Escape ended the two-week reign of Disney’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year, an $11 million film that has taken in more than $75 million over the past three weeks.
Moviegoers lined up to embark on another comic adventure with Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) and other popular characters from the first film. Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, the sequel finds the stranded New York City zoo animals repairing a crashed airplane and leaving the island nation of Madagascar for the wilds of Africa.
Universal’s R-rated comedy Role Models was the weekend’s second most popular offering, earning roughly $19.2 million and becoming the most successful effort from cult-favorite director David Wain (The Ten, Wet Hot American Summer). High School Musical dropped two notches to the No. 3 spot, followed by Universal’s Changeling ($7.3 million) and Weinstein Co.’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno ($6.5 million).
