Home defied box office predictions and defied weak reviews to dominate the box office with a solid $54 million gross domestic for its opening weekend for DreamWorks Animation.
The animated comedy adds that domestic opening to the $47 million it has earned overseas, where it has already been playing in some markets, for a $101 million worldwide total — exactly the kind of good news that the studio has been looking for.
The domestic opening is the third-largest for a non-sequel in DreamWorks Animation’s history, behind the debuts of Kung Fu Panda at $60 million and Monsters vs. Aliens at $59.3 million.
Most forecasts heading into the weekend put Home’s domestic gross somewhere in the mid-$30 millions range.
The No. 2 film this weekend was the Will Ferrell comedy Get Hard, which grossed $34 million in its debut frame.
Still in release this weekend was The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, earning an estimated $610,000 in ticket sales. The Paramount release has earned $160 million domestic and $127 million foreign for $288 million total.
