‘SHREK 2’ SOARS AT THE BOX OFFICE

Surpassing even the most optimistic predictions and creating a bright spot in Hollywood’s less than fantastic summer, DreamWorks Pictures’ “Shrek 2” took in $104.3 million over the weekend, for a total of $125.3 million since its Wednesday opening, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“Troy,” last weekend’s top film, demonstrated potential staying power, dropping just under 50% in its second weekend, with $23.8 million. So far the film that many estimate cost upward of $200 million has grossed $85.8 million domestically and $231.7 million worldwide.

“Van Helsing,” in third place, grossed an estimated $10.2 million, bringing the $160-million-budgeted film’s domestic total to just over $100 million and its worldwide tally to $219 million.

Although “Shrek 2,” which some sources assert cost just $70 million to produce, is an unqualified success with the summer’s best debut, it fell short of breaking opening-weekend records. “Spider-Man,” which opened on a Friday, still holds the crown for the best Friday-through-Sunday opening weekend with $115.8 million. The five-day total for “Shrek 2” also ranks behind comparable numbers for “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Spider-Man,” which grossed $144.4 million and $135.8 million, respectively.

Going into the weekend, analysts predicted the computer-animated film would take in between $60 million and $68 million over the three days. The film’s Wednesday gross of $11.8 million was strong by animation standards but nowhere near the midweek opening-day grosses of live-action sequels such as “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” which in December took in $34.4 million on its opening Wednesday. However, on Saturday “Shrek 2” broke the single-day box-office record for any film when it took in an estimated $44.8 million, beating “Spider-Man,” the previous record holder, by $1.2 million.

In addition to being welcome news for DreamWorks, which hopes to mount an initial public offering for its animation unit, “Shrek 2’s” numbers will help salvage what has been a disappointing summer at the box office. Before this week, May box office was down 25% from last year and admissions -- the actual number of tickets sold -- were down 28%, according to Paul Degarabedian of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. Mega-budgeted “Van Helsing” and “Troy” did not open with the strength of last year’s sequels, “X-Men 2” and “The Matrix Reloaded.”

“This is definitely the shot in the arm the industry needed,” said Degarabedian. “It means there’s still an audience out there as long as you have a good film and market it right.”

The film, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, played well across the board, but it did exceptionally well in markets with a heavy Latino population. The film’s highest-grossing theater on Wednesday and Friday was in El Paso, Texas, and several Los Angeles suburbs, including El Monte, Alhambra and Long Beach, outperformed their regular business by as much as 200%, according to DreamWorks.

“It’s amazing what’s happened in the Latino markets,” said DreamWorks head of distribution Jim Tharp.

While family pictures traditionally play stronger in the suburbs, Tharp credits “Shrek 2’s” popularity in heavily Latino markets to actor Antonio Banderas as the voice of the new character, Puss in Boots.

“It was a perfect casting fit,” said DreamWorks head of animation Ann Daly. The decision “was not based on any demographic scrutiny. It just worked.”

No doubt aiding “Shrek 2’s” weekend triumph was its ubiquity in theaters. DreamWorks launched the film in 3,737 theaters on Wednesday and expanded to 4,163 locations for the weekend, making it the largest-ever film release. Previously, “Spider-Man” had seen the widest-ever release.

“Shrek 2’s” success is yet another example of computer animation’s current dominance and bad news for those hoping the studios will return to producing traditionally animated films on a regular basis.

“Several years ago, we transformed the studio into a fully CG enterprise,” said Daly. “That was a painful decision, but the success of ‘Shrek 2’ over the weekend was very sweet for these people who have been working on the computer animation, many of them for the first time.”

According to Daly, the studio was “quietly working on” a follow-up to “Shrek 2.” “Seeing how it played this weekend, I think we had better continue,” she said.

DreamWorks’ upcoming animation slate is dominated by computer animation, with “Shark Tale,” featuring the voices of Will Smith and Robert De Niro, due this fall, and “Madagascar,” about four New York City zoo animals trapped on an island, coming out around May of next year. One notable exception is next year’s stop-motion-animated “Wallace and Gromit” movie from director Nick Park.

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Box Office

Preliminary results based on studio projections (in millions of dollars).

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total

*--*

*--* Shrek 2 $104.3 $125.3

Troy 23.8 85.8

Van Helsing 10.2 100.1

Mean Girls 6.9 64.7

Man on Fire 3.5 69.3

Breakin’ All the Rules 2.8 9

13 Going on 30 2.5 52

New York Minute 1.2 12.5

Kill Bill Vol. 2 1.1 62.7

Super Size Me 1 2.9

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Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

Los Angeles Times