Wreck-It Ralph Destroys Competition to Top US Box Office

Wreck-It Ralph Destroys Competition to Top US Box Office

Disney were back on top of the pile at the US Box Office over the weekend with their new animation film Wreck-It Ralph scoring the highest grossing opening weekend in Disney animation history. The film, about a video game character and featuring the voice of John C. Reilly, took in an almighty return of $49.1 million – not too shabby indeed.

The figures were especially impressive given the quiet weekend expected in the wake of Hurricane Sandy which hit the east coast of America last week. It also meant that the much-fancied Flight’, starring Denzel Washington, was forced to take a back seat, coming in at second place with takings of $25 million. Indeed, Dave Hollis, executive vice president of film distribution at Walt Disney Studios, told Reuters that the hurricane may have actually helped audiences given the amount of schools that remained shut.

"In a nice way, 'Wreck-It Ralph,' in areas affected by the storm, ended up actually becoming an opportunity to relieve yourself from the reality that might be going on around you, we saw the theater business around areas affected by the storm very healthy," he said, adding "The storm and its impact - I don't know if it was a function of cabin fever or just escaping by getting into a movie theater, but there was definitely a gravitating-towards-the- theater phenomenon." Argo, which topped last weekend’s box office, came third with takings of $10.2 million.