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Cars, the animated road-trip movie from Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar, opened at No. 1 in North America, missing analysts' projections with an estimated $62.8 million in ticket sales.
The film was expected to bring in $72 million, the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. ``Cars'' was the third-highest opener of the six produced by Pixar, film tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. said in a statement.
`Cars'' is the first movie from Pixar since Disney completed the $8.06 billion purchase of its former partner last month. Its lukewarm reception may be a setback for Disney Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger, 55, who gambled that Pixar can extend its streak of six straight hits and revive the animation department.``Cars,'' written and directed by John Lasseter, features the voice of Owen Wilson as a race car named Lightning McQueen. After he's stranded in the desert town of Radiator Springs, McQueen has to re-evaluate his goal of competing in for a championship. The film also features the voices of Bonnie Hunt, Cheech Marin and Paul Newman.
source: Bloomberg.com Pixar's biggest openers were ``The Incredibles'' with $70.5 million and ``Finding Nemo'' with $70.3 million in ticket sales.
``The Break-Up,'' a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, fell to second place from first with $20.5 million in sales. The film from General Electric Co.'s Universal Studios follows a couple's post-split battle over condominium they share.
`The Omen'
``X-Men: The Last Stand,'' the third film in the Marvel comic-book series from Fox, dropped to third from second with $15.6 million in sales. Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart star as mutants in a three-way battle with rival mutants and humans who want to ``cure'' them all by force. The movie has made $202 million in three weeks of release.
``The Omen,'' a remake of the 1976 horror film, came in fourth place with $15.5 million. The Twentieth Century Fox movie follows an American diplomat and his wife, who soon discover their son, Damien, may be the anti-Christ. Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles and Mia Farrow star. The film has brought in $35.7 million since it opened June 6.
The animated movie ``Over the Hedge'' from DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. fell to fifth from third with $10.3 million. ``Over the Hedge'' is about a group of wild animals who venture into suburbia, and features the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling and Steve Carell. The film has brought in $130 million in four weeks.
`A Prairie Home Companion'
``The Da Vinci Code,'' based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown, fell to sixth place from fourth, taking in $10.3 million. In the movie from Sony Corp., Tom Hanks plays a Harvard professor trying to unravel a mystery with the help of a French cryptographer played by Audrey Tautou.
``A Prairie Home Companion,'' based on Garrison Keillor's radio program, opened in seventh place with $4.7 million at 760 theaters. The film follows a variety show whose fans file into its St. Paul, Minnesota, theater on a rainy Saturday night only to find out that the station has been sold to a Texas conglomerate. The film stars Keillor, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin.
``Mission: Impossible III'' dropped to eighth place from fifth, taking in $3 million. The film, starring Tom Cruise as secret agent Ethan Hunt, is based on the 1960s and 1970s television program and has grossed $127.5 million for Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures.
The Robin Williams comedy ``RV'' dropped to ninth place from seventh with $2 million for Sony. Williams plays a father who takes his family on a disastrous road trip.
``Poseidon,'' rounded out the top 10 with sales of $1.8 million. The remake of the 1972 ``The Poseidon Adventure'' has brought in $54.9 million in five weeks for Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., far short of its estimated $160 million budget.
Sales for the top 12 films rose 7.8 percent to an estimated $148.8 million from the year-earlier period, Encino, California- based Exhibitor Relations said.
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