ANIMATED FARE: UNEXPECTED SUMMER CHAMPS

While some analysts warned at the beginning of the summer of a glut of family films hitting the screen, with several competing for the limited number of 3D venues, it turned out that many of them far surpassed expectations — Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3 taking the prize as the biggest box-office winner of any film released this year ($403.8 million), Daily Variety observed today (Wednesday). The trade publication noted that three other animated films dominated the summer box office, including DeamWorks Animation’s Shrek Forever After and How to Train Your Dragon and Universal’s Despicable Me. “Usually, there are two animated biggies each summer,” Variety noted. “This year, there were four, and they seemed to feed off, rather than cannibalize, one another.” The four animated films also performed strongly overseas. The two from DreamWorks Animation also helped push Paramount to No. 1 among all studios in total revenue for the summer. The Hollywood Reporter reported today that Paramount has earned $771 million for the summer, giving it a commanding lead over second-place Disney, which has earned $604 million.