LOS ANGELES • Walt Disney Co set a box-office record for its animation studio with its latest release, Zootopia, which features a world with anthropomorphic animals and has delighted critics with its low-high approach to topics such as racism or, as the movie calls it, speciesism.
The movie collected US$73.7 million (S$101.9 million) in North America, ranking as the biggest Disney Animation launch (though not the best Pixar debut) and outstripping Frozen, the 2013 blockbuster that bowed to US$67.4 million.
Overseas, where Zootopia has been playing for three weeks, it added another US$63.4 million to its haul, pushing its global total to US$232.5 million.
Conceived as a throwback to Disney movies such as Robin Hood (1973), Zootopia cost an estimated US$150 million to make.
It co-stars a rookie bunny cop voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin and is expected to draw crowds through the Easter holiday.
Second place in North America went to the action movie London Has Fallen, which took in about US$21.7 million, according to comScore, which compiles box-office data. A sequel to Olympus Has Fallen (2013), London Has Fallen was independently financed for about US$60 million.
The comic-book movie Deadpool was third, with US$16.4 million.
Tina Fey's war dramedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was a dud. It was fourth, taking in about US$7.6 million and continuing her box-office struggles when she has tried to expand beyond pure comedy.
Continuing to fare poorly was the action epic Gods Of Egypt, which rounded out the top five with about US$5 million.
Of note: The newspaper drama Spotlight, which was named Best Picture at the Academy Awards, expanded into more North American theatres and pushed past US$40 million in total ticket sales.
BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK TIMES, REUTERS
•Zootopia is showing at cinemas.
