Somebody once told us the world was gonna roll Shrek The Third’s prodigious US $121.6M opening in cinemas, a record for animated films that has stood since 2007.
Now, we know who will next bear that honour: Disney-Pixar, with their cinematic leviathan Finding Dory.
You better believe the Ellen DeGeneres-led Finding Nemo sequel is on track for a boggling US $140.6M opening, and that’s only the film’s domestic takings.
Industry watchdog Deadline also predicts the aquatic feature will draw in US $55M alone on Saturday local time, which is another record in and of itself.
We can only presume it’s due to the tidal wave of Dory-themed memes that have popped up of late, especially those devious tag-a-mate ones smattered all over Facebook.
*Sigh.* Go wild.
Interestingly, despite the fact it’s quite obviously a kid’s film, Deadline notes it’s also been going gangbusters with the 18-24 crowd. (Again, possibly due to the previously-mentioned dankess.)
When The Washington Post asked director Andrew Stanton – who also helmed Nemo – about the first film’s success with older watchers, he said “I think I’ll never really know” why it did so bloody well.
“You just know that movie whether you like it or not. So there’s basically a generation of people now that they feel like ‘Nemo’ is their movie. It’s just part of the zeitgeist of them in their formative years, so that’s just the luck of the draw.”
Sounds about right, and it bodes well for Aussie adults barrelling tykes over to nab the best seats.
Want further proof of Stanton’s assessment? Well, you can’t even pretend Sydney’s most famous fake address didn’t sneak its way into your consciousness.
Blue Tang forever, buds.
