DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures captured the top spot at the North American box office this weekend as *The Wild Robot* soared to an estimated $35 million opening across 3,962 theaters. Directed by three-time Oscar nominee Chris Sanders (*How to Train Your Dragon*, *Lilo & Stitch*) and adapted from Peter Brown's bestselling children's novel, the film earned $11.5 million in Friday and preview screenings, outperforming pre-release industry projections.
Featuring an ensemble voice cast led by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o as ROZZUM unit 7134 ("Roz")—a service android shipwrecked on an uninhabited island who becomes the adoptive mother of an orphaned gosling—alongside Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Catherine O'Hara, and Bill Nighy, the feature has achieved near-universal acclaim. It boasts a 98 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an "A" CinemaScore from opening-night audiences.
Critics and Families Embrace Chris Sanders' Painterly Animated Triumph
Produced on a disciplined $78 million budget, *The Wild Robot* represents the final feature animated entirely in-house at DreamWorks' Glendale campus and showcases a hand-painted impressionistic visual aesthetic inspired by classic Disney watercolors and Studio Ghibli landscapes. Analysts expect strong word-of-mouth to propel the film into a major autumn theatrical run and a front-running position in the Academy Award race for Best Animated Feature.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros.' *Beetlejuice Beetlejuice* claimed second place in its fourth weekend with approximately $16 million, pushing its domestic total past $250 million, while Paramount's *Transformers One* followed in third.
“The Wild Robot combines painterly visual artistry with a deeply moving story of empathy and survival, resonating strongly with both critics and family audiences nationwide.”
Coppola's $120 Million Passion Project Faces Steep Theatrical Climb
At the opposite end of the commercial spectrum, five-time Oscar winner Francis Ford Coppola's long-gestating futuristic fable *Megalopolis* stumbled to a projected $4 million opening weekend across 1,850 North American theaters, including 200 IMAX screens. Distributed by Lionsgate for a fee after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the $120 million production was financed directly by Coppola through the sale of a portion of his California wine empire.
Starring Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, a visionary architect clashes with a conservative mayor played by Giancarlo Esposito over the reconstruction of "New Rome." Divided critical reviews (46 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and a rare "D+" CinemaScore underscored audience polarization toward Coppola's experimental epic, though the 85-year-old auteur has expressed confidence that the film will find enduring artistic appreciation over decades.
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