Dreamworks’ Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa easily took the weekend box office crown with an estimated total of $63.5 million, which if it holds up will be the top animated debut of 2008 just nosing out Wall-E’s $63.1 million and Kung Fu Panda’s $60.2 million.  The Madagascar sequel not only outperformed the original film, which opened with $47.2 million in 2005, it posted the seventh largest opening ever for an animated film.  With a CinemaScore of A- and little in the way of major family film competition in the next few weeks, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa has a decent shot to become the #1 animated film of 2008.

The success of Madagascar 2 gives Dreamworks a second bona fide animated franchise to go along with Shrek--and Kung Fu Panda, which is clearly the most visually spectacular animated film Dreamworks has produced so far, not only did well at the box office this summer--it was the number one DVD of the past week, and has definite franchise potential.  With two major hits this year, Dreamworks Animation has emerged as the commercial, if not necessarily the artistic, equal of Pixar.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): November 7-9, 2008:

The raunchy buddy comedy Role Models starring Paul Rudd debuted in second place with a better-than-expected estimated take of $19.3 million, while holdovers High School Musical 3 (down just 39%), Clint Eastwood’s The Changeling (down 22%) and Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno (down 35%) posted strong performances helping the top ten films gross 32% more than their counterparts did last year when Bee Movie topped the charts.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is likely to have a strong sophomore session, but the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace, which has been tearing up box offices around the world for the past two weeks and is set to open here November 14th, will likely dominate what should be a very competitive box office next weekend.