`Ice Age 3` beats `Hanuman`, earns Rs.22 mn over weekend

New Delhi, July 06: The third instalment of the pre-historic animation series `Ice Age` released in India Friday and has grossed over Rs.2.2 crore (Rs.22 million) in its opening weekend.Made at a budget of Rs.436 crore (Rs.4.36 billion), `Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs` released here in 3-D computer animated format with 60 prints and has got the highest opening for any animation film in India surpassing the 2005 superhit "Hanuman", which had an opening of Rs.1.5 crore (Rs.15 million) on 150 prints.

"`Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs` has managed to get one of the highest openings for an animated film in India even though it released with the hugely hyped `Kambakkht Ishq`. It has performed even better than ?Hanuman`," Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios India, the distributors of the film, said in a statement released here Monday. Featuring the voices of Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Simon Pegg, it has been co-directed by Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier. The movie has also recovered its basic cost in just about five days of its release overseas and has surpassed the collections of `Ice Age: The Meltdown` and `Ice Age`, respectively. The previous highest weekend collections for an animated Hollywood film was for `Shrek 3`, which earned Rs.1.3 crore (Rs.13 million) in its opening weekend. The film continues after the events of `Ice Age: The Meltdown` where life begins to change for Manny and his friends. IANS