BEOWULF WOWS AUDIENCES AT THE BOX OFFICE

The heroic fantasy tale is number one at the box office.

Beowulf, the heroic tale of the Viking warrior slaying swamp creatures and flying fire breathing dragons led the box office this weekend with $28 million.

Director Robert Zemeckis who introduced the technology of motion capture in Polar Express where special computerized markers are placed on the actor’s face to capture their emotions in animation, says what attracted audiences over the weekend was not just the cool look of the film but what it had to say.

“I mean I think the thing about Beowulf and what attracts people to Beowulf is the story about a hero. It’s self sacrifice for the greater good and you know that’s a timeless story. It’s got this really really sophisticated human story and it’s got all this great action and important themes that I think resonate with what’s going on in the world around us because the quest for glory and the quest for power and the quest for gold and the classic battle between the forces of good and evil are always around us and they’ve never gone away so I think it’s timely and it is for everybody.”

Beowulf also went down in history as the first 3D animated movie opening to the widest audience to date. The film opened in 3-D on about 800 screens domestically. Animation also took second place with Bee Movie earning $14 million while the live action American Gangster came in third with $13 million.