'Oz: The Great and Powerful' lived up to its name this weekend, as Walt Disney Co.'s prequel to 'The Wizard of Oz' opened with an estimated box-office take of $80.3 million in the U.S. and Canada.
The biggest opening thus far in 2013 by a wide margin, 'Oz' provided a much-needed spark in what has so far been a weak season at the box office, with a number of disappointments driving receipts down 12% from a year earlier, according to Hollywood.com.
That's good news for the industry and particularly for Disney's movie studio, which embarked on costly reshoots last summer in an apparently successful effort to improve the film, which stars James Franco. In total, Disney spent about $215 million to make 'Oz,' on top of tax credits from Michigan, where the film was shot.
The movie, which opened to tepid reviews, was approved by Rich Ross, the former chairman of Disney Studios. His successor, Alan Horn, oversaw the reshooting, marketing and release of the film.
Weekend receipts for the PG-rated 'Oz' were strong during the day and at night, said Dave Hollis, Disney's executive vice president of distribution, indicating that the film drew both families and adults without children. Ticket sales rose 37% from Friday to Saturday, a better-than-average performance suggesting that word-of-mouth was positive.
'In event-film creation you always have the ambition of doing an all-audience picture,' said Mr. Hollis. 'It feels like we were able to deliver on that.'
He added that with schools starting to let out in the next week for Spring Break, Disney is expecting stronger-than-average weekday receipts for the movie.
While healthy, the opening of 'Oz' was weaker than that of the film on which Disney patterned its release plan: 2010's 'Alice in Wonderland.' That update of a classic tale, which also opened in March, grossed $116 million domestically during its first weekend.
Overseas, 'Oz: The Great and Powerful' took in $69.9 million from 46 foreign territories. Russia was by far the biggest, with box-office receipts of $15 million, nearly triple the film's take in the U.K., the runner-up.
《魔境仙踪》(Oz: The Great and Powerful)上周末票房表现抢眼，该片由华特-迪士尼公司(Walt Disney Co.)出品，是电影《绿野仙踪》(The Wizard of Oz)的前传，上映首周末在美国和加拿大收获了大约8,030万美元的票房。
霍利斯说，在制作大片的时候，你总是雄心勃勃地想要吸引各个年龄段的观众；看起来我们已经做到了这一点。
他还补充说，美国学校的春季假期下周即将开始，迪士尼预计将录得好于平均的周末票房成绩。
尽管票房成绩不错，但《魔境仙踪》的开篇成绩不及迪士尼2010年推出的影片《爱丽丝梦游仙境》(Alice in Wonderland)，该片改编自一部经典小说，也是在当年的3月份上映，上映首周末收获了1.16亿美元的票房。迪士尼凭借《爱丽丝梦游仙境》这部电影确立了自己的发行模式。
在海外，《魔境仙踪》在46个国家和地区共揽获6,990万美元的票房。截至目前，俄罗斯是该片最大的票房来源地，票房收入1,500万美元，大约相当于排名第二的英国的三倍。
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