'Finding Dory' Keeps on Swimming to Box Office Records

Some 13 years after Pixar headed beneath the sea for the first time, Finding Dory finally swam into North American Cinemas last week. And if there was any doubt that Andrew Stanton's sequel would find its audience, any such concerns have been firmly put to rest now. Not only is it the biggest opening for any animated film this year so far, but it is also Pixar's biggest opening to date, beating the previous champ, Toy Story 3. More than that though it also surpassed Shrek The Third to become the biggest opening weekend for any animated film to date.

The colossal haul of $136.2 million also places it as the second biggest opening of 2016 so far, behind only Captain America: Civil War.  The film was expected to open well, but the scale of the success it has achieved has taken many industry pundits by surprise. As well as family audiences, the film will also appeal to those who have grown up with the original- a similar phenomenon that served Toy Story 3 so well back in 2010. Finding Dory has also apparently been particularly successful at attracting female audiences, with women making up 62% of the opening weekend audience.

The question now is whether the film will have the staying power to see it overtake the year's current animated number one Zootopia. If so, Disney's latest movie may not hold on to its current position as the fourth most successful animated film for very long.

Finding Dory is now showing in cinemas in the US and Canada and will open in the United Kingdom in July.



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