‘Shark Tale’ debut sinks competition

The animated fish story “Shark Tale” swamped the competition, opening as the top weekend movie with $47.6 million – the second-best October debut ever.

John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix’s firefighting adventure “Ladder 49” premiered in second place with $22.1 million. The new flicks bumped the previous weekend’s top movie, “The Forgotten,” to third place with $11.8 million, raising its 10-day total to $38.1 million.

“Shark Tale” and “Ladder 49” lifted Hollywood out of its box-office doldrums. The top 12 movies took in $104.4 million, up 30 percent from the same weekend last year — the first increase after four straight weekends of declining revenue.

The all-time best debut by an October film was the $48.1 million rung up by last year’s “Scary Movie 3.”

“Shark Tale” overcame so-so reviews, with some critics calling it a retread of the “Shrek” movies and the fish tale “Finding Nemo.” But after a long drought for children’s movies, families flooded theaters.

Most big fall family films come closer to the holidays. Last year’s “Elf” and “The Cat in the Hat,” for instance, opened in November, as did 2002’s “The Santa Clause 2.”

But with “The Incredibles,” “The Polar Express” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” all opening next month, “we couldn’t see a weekend where there wasn’t a choice for families,” DreamWorks distribution chief Jim Tharp says. “So we took a chance and went first.”

Audiences responded, particularly younger viewers. Nearly two-thirds of the “Shark Tale” moviegoers were families, and 30 percent of the audience was 12 and younger.

Tharp credits much of the success to the voices in the film, which include Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Rene Zellweger, Angelina Jolie and Jack Black.

“You don’t have to see Will on screen to be drawn to him,” Tharp says. “Somehow, he can make anything that comes out of his mouth sound funny. Kids just love him.”

While “Shark Tale” did not approach the $70.3 million debut of last year’s “Finding Nemo,” it was distributor DreamWorks’ second-best opening ever behind the $108 million premiere of “Shrek 2.”