Weekend box office: Sequel smash

Lending credence to my personal theory that, in this year of political melodrama and economic meltdown, moviegoers want nothing less than the shinest, noisiest, least mentally taxing diversions they can lay their hands on, "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" creamed the weekend competition with a monster $63.5 million. That dwarfs the opening weekend of the original "Madagascar" back in May 2005 ($47 million) and is especially notable given the 4,000-plus theaters the sequel opened in (for a $15,600 per-theater-average, those of you keeping score).

Just to put this in perspective: "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" grossed in one weekend fairly close to what "High School Musical 3" has made in three weeks ($75 million).

Huh? Wha? What's going on here? It's not the surprisingly gracious reviews that greeted #2. I seriously doubt what one acquaintance opined over the weekend, that the election to the US presidency of a son of Kenya has made America eager for all things Africa. No, I think that after the events of the past week, many people -- including everyone with kids, apparently -- was grateful for a chance to turn off the collective brain and mindlessly chortle along with Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria.

There is precedence. While "Shrek"s 2 and 3 remain by far the opening weekend champs for high-grossing sequels ($108 and $122 million respectively), "Escape 2 Africa" neatly replicates the numbers for "Ice Age: The Meltdown" in March '06 ($68 million), especially compared to the original "Ice Age" ($46 million). The case to be made, then, is that the first in a CGI kiddie franchise does most of its promo work for #2 on DVD and other secondary platforms, leaving the sequel to clean up in theaters.

For those who craved ribald guy-humor, "Role Models" performed quite decently, with a $19.2 million and strong $7,000 PTA. "Soul Men," by contrast, stiffed: $5.6 million, $2,700 PTA. RIP Bernie and Isaac.

Two new limited releases did very nicely, boding well for their Boston area releases this Friday: Holocaust drama "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" played 17 theaters in other cities for a whopping $15,000 PTA, and "JCVD," the Jean-Claude Van Damme meta-movie (I kid you not) opened at two theaters and averaged $11,000 at each. (Check those Metacritic.com reviews for "Boy in the Striped Pajamas," by the by -- this is one love-it-or-hate-it proposition. I'll weigh in on Friday with my own thoughts.)

More box office numbers at Box Office Mojo and Movie City News's Leonard Klady.