The truth about Cats & Dogs

Som Chivukula

Surprise. Surprise.

Cats & Dogs, a film about household pets fighting for domination, took the number one spot at the box office with $ 21.7 million over the weekend, stunning many analysts.

It took over the top spot from A I: Artificial Intelligence, which finished third with $14.1 million.

"This was a terrific performance for a family film which uses computer animation to have the animals talk," says Gitesh Pandya, Boxofficeguru.com editor. Dr Doolittle 2, another film in which the animals talk, has performed below expectations with $71 million and counting, unlike Cats & Dogs, a film not many had heard of.

Cats & Dogs, released July 4, has grossed $ 35.7 million in five days.

"We are looking forward to (Cats & Dogs) as development of a franchise picture for us," Warner Bros' distribution chief Daniel Fellman told Bloomberg News. "This movie is going to have a huge ancillary life."

Scary Movie 2, the follow-up to last year's massive hit and one of the eagerly awaited films of summer, did not live up to box office expectations. It came second with $21 million for the weekend.

Many analysts had predicted Scary Movie 2 to gross near the $ 42.3 million debut of the original, which was released during the same time last year. The sequel opened July 4, grossing $ 34.5 million in five days.

Pandya observes: "This was a case where the sequel came out too quickly after the original just last summer.

"Scary Movie 2 didn't look as funny as the original," he continues. The original grossed over $ 150 million in North America. With a plethora of upcoming films, the sequel may be looking at a short shelf life on its way to a less-than-spectacular $ 80 million ending.

"The idea just wasn't as fresh and it will not have the legs," Pandya said.

A I: Artificial Intelligence, a Steven Spielberg film that many analysts had high hopes for, grossed $ 14.1 million. Its total is $ 59.7 million, on its way to a finish near $ 100 million.

Martial arts star Jet Li's Kiss Of The Dragon opened well with $ 13.6 million to finish fourth. Li's stock has been rising slowly in America with films such as Lethal Weapon 4 and Romeo Must Die. Along with Jackie Chan, he is one of Hong Kong's biggest action stars, which bodes well for the film abroad.

But the story of summer is still DreamWorks' Shrek, holding steady with $6 million for the weekend. It has grossed $240 million and looks to end in the $250 million neighborhood.

"There are two big points for the summer: the summer of Shrek and the rapid decline of films such as A I, Pearl Harbor and The Fast And The Furious," Pandya noted. "A I is definitely performing under expectations whereas The Fast And The Furious is a surprise hit."

Three more films make their way to the multiplexes this week: Final Fantasy, yet another video game based feature; Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde and Robert de Niro's caper, The Score.