Box Office: 'The Wild Robot' Puts DreamWorks Animation Back in the Game

The acclaimed and buzzy DWA flick opened with a rousing $35 million, the biggest "original" or "new-to-you" animated launch since 'Onward' in pre-COVID 2020.

It's a good start for a good movie.

The Wild Robot is, for what it’s worth, the 25th DWA film to debut atop the domestic box office, pulling a solid 3.1x weekend multiplier off a $1.9 million Thursday and a $11.32 million Friday. The $14.2 million Saturday and estimated $9.51 million Sunday suggests that, as hoped, families and kids showed up at their relative convenience on Saturday and Sunday. Demographically, Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s novel played 52% male and 58% over 25, with 27% under 18, 34% ages 18 to 34, 22% 35-44 and 15% 45 and up. It skewed 42% Caucasian, 29% Hispanic, 8% Black and 18% Asian, meaning there is money to be found in further emphasizing its appeal to kids and those intelligent enough to be Lupita Nyong’o fans.

The overall response has been rapturous, with a current 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and an A from CinemaScore. I can't entirely agree with critics who swear it’s the best DWA toon ever, as that’s libeling Kung Fu Panda 2 and/or How to Train Your Dragon 2. I’ll argue it’s benefiting from a certain presumption of mediocrity that has long haunted the studio (remember the “Brave is only DreamWorks good” discourse in 2012) regardless of its overall quality curve. However, I’ll happily agree that it’s among DWA’s best flicks in the last several years. And considering that almost every DreamWorks “part two” is better than the respective “part one” (Boss Baby: Family Business is the exception), I’m already prematurely looking forward to The Wild Robot Escapes.