‘Zootopia’ Takes Top Spot at Weekend Box Office

Zootopia has mauled the competition and dethroned Deadpool to top the weekend box office.

The family film, which features the voices of Jason Bateman, Shakira, Idris Elba, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Octavia Spencer, caused a stampede to open at number one with $73.7 million. The impressive taking makes it the fourth highest March opening in history for North America, and the best three-day debut for Disney Animation studios, toppling 2013 mega hit Frozen, which opened with $67.4 million, reports The Associated Press.

Zootopia‘s popularity easily overshadowed the launch of Gerard Butler’s latest film, London Has Fallen, which is new at two with a decent $21.7 million gross.

The figure falls short of the sequel’s original 2013 release, Olympus Has Fallen, which opened with $30 million, but it fared far better than Butler’s other action epic, Gods of Egypt, which bombed at the box office upon its release last weekend, taking just $14 million, despite its $140 million budget. It falls to five this week, with an additional $5 million take.

Studio bosses behind Gods of Egypt, which has also been at the centre of a “whitewashing” controversy after white actors were cast in Egyptian roles, will find it even harder to recoup its investment amid reports suggesting its U.S. flop has prompted distributing executives to pull the movie from release in the U.K. It was recently removed from listing websites and a new date has not been given. According to Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, it will now be released on DVD in the U.K..

Meanwhile, back in the North American box office, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool slips to three after dominating the film chart for the past three weeks. The comic book adaptation adds another $16.4 million to its haul, boosting its total domestic takings to $311.2 million.

Tina Fey’s war comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot completes the new top five at four.