Mean Green Money Machine

After big-but-not-huge openings for Van Helsing and Troy (both of which have now passed the $200 million mark worldwide), analysts were beginning to worry that this would be a year without a hit - with the exception of the totally unexpected success of The Passion of the Christ. All it took to restore their faith, however, was a big green ogre and his missus. Shrek 2 has made a massive $125.3 million at the US box office since it opened on Wednesday. The people at Dreamworks Animation were ogre the moon (sorry), having estimated an opening weekend of perhaps $70 to $80 million. Shrek 2's weekend gross was $104.3 million, putting it just behind Spider-Man's $115 million weekend total for the second biggest opening of all time. The film opened on a record number of screens and has received almost universally positive reviews and glowing word of mouth from early viewers. At this rate, the film could even beat Finding Nemo's record box office for an animated film ($339.7 million), although Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens in two weeks and may take some of Shrek's audience. Troy held second place with $23.8 million, while Van Helsing fell to third with $10.1 million. Mean Girls and Man On Fire continued to hold their own against the blockbusters in fourth and fifth place, showing that you don't have to have talking cats, wooden horses or flying baby vampires to make a splash. However, with over 65% of the total box office this weekend, everyone's eyes were on Shrek, Fiona, Puss-in-Boots and Donkey. Here in the UK we'll have to wait until 2 July to see for ourselves if they can ogrewhelm this country as easily (OK, no more).