A $100 million-plus production, Wall•E repeated the feat of every single past Pixar film by opening #1 at the U.S. box office this weekend. About 22% of patrons for the wondrously reviewed film were couples without children. “That basically tells you that the adults have heard the reviews, and they’re coming,” Disney distribution president Chuck Viane told The Hollywood Reporter. With the male-to-female ratio among patrons almost even at 49% to 51%, “that’s also very telling (as it means) when parents are coming to the theater with the children they’re both coming,” Chuck added. Overseas, Disney opted for a smallish day-and-date launch for Wall•E. The film nonetheless tallied an impressive $3.1 million at 400 Latin American playdates in half a dozen markets. The little robot led in Brazil with $1.6 million in the third biggest Pixar launch after The Incredibles and Finding Nemo and topped Chile with $525,000 and Colombia with $498,000. Wall•E hits its first major foreign markets next weekend with launches in Mexico and Russia and will open gradually over the rest of the year to maximize local playability opportunities, following a pattern similar to that employed for Ratatouille. Given its pedigree and the strong market for CG toons, Wall•E could wind up as the best foreign performer this year according to Variety, a list currently topped by Paramount’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which has amassed $413 million to date. Finding Nemo is the top international performer among Disney/Pixar titles with a $525 million foreign cume, followed by Ratatouille with $410 million and The Incredibles with $362 million.
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