Ice Age Freezes out the U.s. Box Office on Opening Day

Saturday 4th July 2009 - 12:00:00

The latest Ice Age sequel is freezing out the Transformers at the U.S. box office after scoring an opening day take of $13.8 million (£9.2 million).

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs opened in almost 4,000 cinemas on Wednesday (01Jul09) and scored a new record for the biggest opening day gross for an animated film bowing on a Wednesday.

Shrek 2 opened with $11.8 million (£7.86 million) on a Wednesday in May, 2004.

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen claimed the biggest Wednesday gross of all-time last week (24Jun09); the sequel took in more than $60 million (£40 million) in its first day on release.

That's the second biggest single-day gross in U.S. box office history - $7 million (£4.6 million) behind The Dark Knight's overall single-day record, which was set last year (08).

A week later and the Transformers sequel is still racking up huge box office numbers - it grossed an estimated $10.9 million (£7.2 million) on Wednesday, according to trade magazine Daily Variety.

The Michael Bay blockbuster has tallied over $240 million (£160) in just eight days.

Despite the strong start from the Ice Age sequel, industry experts expect Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen to hold on to the number one spot at the U.S box office.