英语文摘:Green ogre becomes king of North America box office as "Shrek Forever After" opens

LOS ANGELES, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The fourth and perhaps final installment of the Shrek franchise opened this weekend with 71.25 million U.S. dollars, taking top billing at the box office, the North America box office authority said on Sunday.

Following the Paramount/DWA franchise's tradition of opening on the weekend before Memorial Day and arriving three years after the last installment, "Shrek Forever After" has fetched less than 100 million dollars in ticket receipts from 4,359 movie theaters including 2,373 3D sites in three days beginning on Friday. This was possibly due to the fact that family moviegoers tend to reject higher ticket prices that are presently being charged, thus making the movie falling short of the high expectations, the authority said.

When the original "Shrek" opened in 2001, it took in 42.3 million dollars on its first weekend. "Shrek 2" (2004) and "Shrek the Third" (2007) followed with 108 million and 121.6 million dollars respectively. Expectations run high before the latest film make its debut in Canada and the United States.

Poster of "Shrek Forever After".

Meanwhile, IMAX theaters have made 5 million dollars or seven percent of the weekend take, which is evident that the genre has played an even greater role in ticket receipts, according to the projected statistics.

Since "Shrek the Third" received mixed reaction and the fourth installment underperformed, "Shrek Forever After" faces an uphill battle in the weeks to come, analysts said.

Other four players of this weekend's top five best film derby are holdovers from the last week.

"Iron Man 2", from Paramount/Marvel, is No.2 which has fetched another 26.6 million dollars for a total of 251.2 million dollars in three weeks. Universal's "Robin Hood," starring Russell Crowe and premiering at No.1 last week, is No.3 which has garnered 18.7 million dollars for a domestic total of 66 million dollars. At No. 4 is Summit Entertainment's romantic drama "Letters to Juliet," which has made 9.1 million dollars in ticket receipts for a two- week total of 22.9 million dollars.

"Just Wright", a romantic comedy with a love and basketball approach featuring rap star Common and Queen Latifah, slipped from last week's fourth place to No.5 with 4.2 million dollars and 14.6 million dollars for two weeks.

Universal's "MacGruber," a Saturday Night Live-based action comedy starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig also opened at 2,551 theaters. It is No.6 with 4.1 million dollars.