TRANSFORMERS AND ICE AGE 3 TIE OVER 4th OF JULY WEEKEND!

Variety.com has the latest...

It was a win-win situation at the box office, with "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" raking in record international box office for an animated pic, while "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" became the year's domestic B.O. champ.

Opening on Wednesday to get the jump on the holiday weekend, 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age 3" won the five-day sesh with $67.5 million; the "Transformers" sequel took $65 million. The 3-D dinosaurs trampled the world's box office, with the biggest opening ever for an animated film at $148 million. Worldwide total stands at $215.5 million.

For the three-day weekend sesh, "Ice Age" and "Transformers" raced to a rare tie, with $42.5 million. (The victor will likely be decided when the final numbers come in this ayem.)

"Revenge of the Fallen" lit up the holiday box office frame by becoming the highest-grossing pic of the year, with a domestic cume of $293.5 million in its 12th day in release. The only film to have amassed a higher gross in such a short time is "The Dark Knight." Worldwide tally for "Transformers 2" is a massive $591 million.

Universal's Johnny Depp gangster pic "Public Enemies," which also opened Wednesday, served as solid counterprogramming to the two tentpoles. Period piece, directed by Michael Mann, grossed $41 million in its first five days at the domestic B.O. and $5.3 million from five territories overseas, bringing worldwide cume to $46.3 million.

Distribs and exhibs were expecting a slow holiday Saturday, but the drop was even bigger than expected at 30% or more.

Yet the weekend was still up over the same domestic frame last year as there was something for everyone on the marquee. There had been concern that "Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and "Public Enemies" might get lost in the shadow of "Revenge of the Fallen," but both came in on the upper end of expectations.

The third "Ice Age" pic's five-day domestic debut of $67.5 million nearly matched the $68 million opening of the previous installment, "Ice Age: The Meltdown."

Fox took a calculated risk in opening the threequel in summer. The first two films debuted in March, when there is far less competition, but the third is benefiting from summer vacation.

"Dawn of the Dinosaurs," opening on 11,652 screens in 101 markets, saw the sixth best international opening of all time behind ("Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" tops the list).

"Ice Age 3" likely took a bite out of "Transformers 2" internationally, although the latter still pulled in $55 million for the sesh.

Fox co-prexies of international distribution Paul Hanneman and Tomas Jegeus said "Ice Age 3" played incredibly broadly, fueled by a massive international marketing campaign that included numerous promotion partners.

"We had a great date, and we think we will keep playing and playing. The 'Ice Age' franchise has become an institution, and we powered through any disadvantages we had, such as weather," Hanneman said.

The film scored the biggest international opening ever in numerous territories, led by Russia at $18.9 million, Brazil at $10.3 million and Mexico at $10 million. Other countries included Austria, Chile, Peru and Colombia. In Mexico, the opening was 100% ahead of the "Transformers 2" debut and 81% ahead of "Dark Knight."

"Dawn of the Dinosaurs" broke the record for the biggest animated opening in several individual territories as well, including France at $11.1 million.

"Ice Age 3's" worldwide gross was boosted by its 3-D runs, which repped the widest opening to date for a 3-D title, both domestically and abroad. In the U.S. toon played on 1,606 3-D screens. Overseas, the 2,126 3-D screens grossed a combined $51 million, repping 34% of the entire gross, even though the screens comprised only 18% of the entire run.

Fox VP of domestic distribution Bert Livingston said the studio was elated with the overall result.

"I think we are in rarefied air. To be in a virtual tie for the weekend with one of the biggest event films ever is a great start," Livingston said.

"Ice Age 3" represents a sizable victory for Fox Animation topper Vanessa Morrison.

 I've seen Ice Age 3 and its very good! The screening audience I saw it with enjoyed it as well, so its no surprise that its doing well in a competitive market. As for Transformers, well its still bringing in the bucks and looks to break into the $400 million USD range at its current clip.

I'll keep all of you (and every day there is more of you) posted as I get the news.

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