‘Nemo’ could float by ‘Lion King’ as top cartoon film
Finding Nemo could be swimming to a new record: biggest animated movie ever.
Already, the tale of a father clownfish who searches the oceans to find his missing son has topped The Matrix Reloaded as summer’s biggest film, with $274.9 million.
If the film continues to attract large schools of moviegoers, it could top the current record holder, 1994’s The Lion King, which made $312.9 million, or $378.9 million in 2003 dollars.
“A lot has changed in the ways movies perform,” says Andrew Hindes of box office trackers Nielsen EDI. “The Lion King opened on over 2,500 screens, which was very wide for the time, but Finding Nemo is in about 3,400 theaters. That said, Finding Nemo is still showing incredible holding power.”
To compare other animated fare this year, Rugrats Go Wild took in $11.6 million its first weekend in June; Nemo took in $70.6 million its first weekend, an animation record.
“When it becomes a part of the fabric of the culture, it just takes on a life of its own,” says Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, which produced both Nemo and LionKing.
Cook suspects that Nemo stood out this summer partly because of what it was not ó a sequel. Other key factors:
√Ø Director Andrew Stanton’s characters and story. “I love the way the characters look and the way they’re funny,” says Andy Sampson, 6, of Franklin, Mass.
√Ø The father-son relationship between Marlin and Nemo. “I loved it so much because it’s about a father who loves his child so much he goes finding for his son,” says Allison Mansell, 9, of Winston-Salem, N.C.
√Ø Hunger for a true family comedy. “With the economic and political environments the way they are, people have been flocking to comedies all year,” Hindes says. “But people liked this movie more than the other ones. Like Lion King, it has an epic mythological quality to it that makes couples without kids and teenagers want to go.”
√ØBecause kids love the sharks, who attend an Alcoholics Anonymous-like 12-step program to keep them from eating fish. Says Mallory Goldberg, 4, of Woodland Hills, Calif., “I like Nemo because it’s really funny, and there are no scary parts. The only scary part is the three sharks, but they were having a meeting, and they were trying not to eat the fish, and they didn’t.”
√Ø Because for kids, once isn’t enough. Andy has seen it twice and believes he could enjoy it at least eight more times. Allison has gone twice, and her first Game Boy Advance game is a Nemo game.
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