'Shrek the Third' Brings in $122 Million in Opening Weekend

According to Yahoo! Canada News and reporter David Germain, "Shrek the Third" opened this weekend earning $122 million at its debut.

"Shrek the Third" is produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount. The executives behind "Shrek the Third" at these two companies did not expect the debut to be above that of its predecessor "Shrek 2" which opened in 2004 making $108 million.

The opening total does not include the $900,000 brought in during the previews, which brings the total to $122.9 million. According to Anne Globe, the DreamWorks Animation head of Marketing, "The opening was significantly beyond our expectations."

18 million fans attended the opening weekend of "Shrek the Third" which surpassed the "Shrek 2" opening weekend crowd of 17.4 million viewers.

The movie also opened in Ukraine, The Philippines, Romania and Russia. It will open in other countries later year in June and July.

The newest member of the cast is the young Arthur, the future king, voiced by Justin Timberlake. Mike Myers returns as the voice of the big green lovable ogre. The movie also co-stars the voices of Eddie Murphy as the tag along donkey, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, Shrek's lady love and Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots.

McDonald's has already released its Happy Meal "Shrek the Third" toy series, to coincide with the release of the movie. There are 10 different figurines available including a burping Shrek. They also have a series of drinking glasses with different Shrek characters, available for purchase. Burger King was the fast food promoter of the previous "Shrek 2" movie.

There are small nods to the previous works of two other "Shrek the Third" characters. Queen Lillian voiced by Julie Andrews hums " A Few of My Favourite Things" from the movie "Sound of Music" in which she played Maria von Trapp in 1965.The dying King Harold, who the heir young Arthur must be trained by Shrek to replace the king, is played by John Cleese of Monty Python fame. The tribute to the 1975 comedic film, "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail" is acknowledged with a stage production in Prince Charming's Dinner theatre which uses coconuts to create the sound of horse's hooves.

"Shrek the Third" took first place for weekend movies, which surpassed the weekend total for the latest Spider Man movie. " Spider-Man 3" took in $28.5 million but "Shrek the Third" has a ways to go before it can equal the "Spider-Man 3" $747 million take to date. "Shrek the Third" also faces competition for the number one spot this coming weekend, with the Friday release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End".

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070520/entertainment/film_box_office