“Ice Age 3″ Cools Off “Transformers 2″

Ice Age 3: We’re number one!! For a day!! 

Going into this weekend, the prevailing wisdom was that “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was going to steamroll its way to another first place finish–and that’s still quite a good possibility. But for at least one day, though, there was something more powerful than those mighty robots: cute, animated sort of prehistoric creatures. With its Wednesday debut, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” took in $13.8 million, beating out “Transformers: ROTF,” which earned $10.9 million for the day (numbers courtesy of Variety). Granted, this “Transformers 2″ second week of release, but remember, it was still expected to best everything.

So what does this tell us about movie audiences? It tells us that a lot of kids haven’t left for camp yet, and parents were pretty glad to take them to a new movie. Again, “Transformers” may still win the weekend, but it’s a great start for “Ice Age,” and a sign that the franchise hasn’t yet worn out its welcome.

As for the other Wednesday release, “Public Enemies” did well with $8.2 million, which seems to be a bit better than studio expectations. The film opened to mixed-to-positive reviews. It’s not expected to be a blockbuster of the type that will threater “Transformers” or “Ice Age,” so as long as it keeps up this opening pace, it should be fine.