ICE AGE - ICE AGE FREEZES OUT THE U.S. BOX OFFICE ON OPENING DAY

ICE AGE FREEZES OUT THE U.S. BOX OFFICE ON OPENING DAY

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.