Angry Birds has proven to remain relevant among fans after all these years. The video game franchise has come to theaters and immediately earned Sony and Rovio Entertainment $39 million in its opening weekend, with approximately $94 million worldwide to date.
The mobile phone sensation, directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly, swiftly beat the likes of Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, which is currently in its third theatrical week. The superhero film brought in $33.1 million, raising its total domestic revenue to $347.4 million to date. Worldwide, however, it recently crossed the $1 billion mark and has now become Disney’s tenth billion-dollar flick.
Featuring the talented voices of Jason Sudeikis, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph and Josh Gad, the animated film’s revenue is expected to increase drastically as children are soon out of school.
“We are thrilled that with our partners Rovio, Sony Pictures and Imageworks, we were able to transform a worldwide video game brand into a global movie brand,” Sony’s marketing head Josh Greenstein stated. “We had a fantastic date for a family film, and the marketing really tried to keep it relevant to whatever was happening at the time.”
A strong marketing campaign started almost a full year ago as Sony created specialized content surrounding major holidays and heavily invaded social media networks.
In related news, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising nabbed approximately $21.8 million domestically. Starring Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron, Neighbors 2 is a sequel to the 2014 hit that brought in 56% higher revenue during its opening weekend.
Finally, Nice Guys (starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe) opened with approximately $11.3 million across 2,865 theaters.