The blue bird comedy “Rio” – the first animated movie produced entirely in Connecticut – is the top movie for 2011, thanks to a strong foreign box office and two consecutive weeks atop the U.S. box office.
Since its release three weeks ago, “Rio” has earned $284 million worldwide, for a movie made on a production budget of $90 million, according to Box Office Mojo, a movie industry publication.
The family-friendly comedy is far outpacing the No. 2 worldwide movie – the Johnny Depp-voiced “Rango” – that has $237 million to date.
“Rio” features a voice cast of Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, Tracy Morgan, will.i.am, George Lopez and Jamie Foxx. It is about a domesticated Macaw that follows another bird to Rio de Janeiro.
The interest of the movie is particularly strong in Latin and South American, especially Brazil, as the movie is named for Rio de Janeiro. The film also has two consecutive weeks atop the domestic box office, earning $81 million in the U.S. alone.
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The film was made by Greenwich digital media firm Blue Sky Studios, which relocated from New York because of Connecticut’s film tax credit program. The studio also created the successful “Ice Age” series. The company has 400 employees in Connecticut making an average salary of $100,000.
Despite its strong showings to start the year, “Rio” still has a lot more to earn to catch up with Blue Sky’s more successful franchises. This is the studio’s sixth film, and it currently ranks fifth in its total worldwide gross.
The three “Ice Age” movies and “Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” made significantly more money during their box office runs, especially “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” that made $887 million worldwide. This weekend’s receipts did push “Rio” past the 2005 Blue Sky film “Robots.”
