SURF’S UP

Surf's Up

Financed by Sony for $100 million, Surf’s Up was the second animated feature to come out of Sony Pictures Animation and it stumbled at the worldwide box office. With Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Shrek the Third and Sony’s own Spider-Man 3 claiming most of the promotional tie-in market to themselves, Sony managed to put together a media promotional package for the animated pic with corporate tie-ins valued at north of $100 million. Cross over promotional ties included McDonald’s, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Baskin-Robbins, ConAgra Foods, Airheads candy, Old Navy, SeaWorld, the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Assn. and the Newspaper Association of America — yes kids, the Newspaper Association of America! The toon opened in 3,528 theaters in a crowded marketplace competing for family auds and Surf’s Up came in below expectations with $17,640,249 — placing #4 for the weekend led by new opener Ocean’s Thirteen and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End in its third frame and Surf’s Up barely opened ahead of Shrek the Third in its fourth weekend of release. Even with a solid A- cinemascore, the film fell 47.5% in its second weekend to $9,254,793 when the PG rated Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opened. The following weekend would see another family targeting pic open, the PG rated Evan Almighty and the week after would be Ratatouille. Surf’s Up closed its US run with a disappointing $58,867,694. The film fared a bit better overseas with a $90.1 million cume, but it would not be enough to lift the soft domestic numbers into the black. The worldwide total was $149 million, leaving Sony with about $82 million after theaters take their percentage of the gross. According to Sony’s quarterly report, the success of the theatrical release of Spider-Man 3 and the decent home video sales of Casino Royale and Stomp The Yard, were offset by the performance of Surf’s Up.