Russia Box Office: 'Zootopia' Opens to Record $7.9M

Disney's animated family film easily came in No. 1.

Disney's animated tentpole Zootopia cashed in on Russians' love for family animation, topping the weekend and setting a record for the biggest Disney Animation or Pixar bow ever in the market.

Zootopia grossed $7.9 million in its opening weekend.

Animated films, both local and foreign, have traditionally done well at the box office in Russia. In 2015, Minions was the country's top-grossing movie, while two more animated pics, Hotel Transylvania 2 and Inside Out, made the top 10.

The year's highest-grossing local film, Tri bogaturya: Khod konyom (Three Knights: A Gambit), was also animated.

Apart from family animation, Russian viewers are apparently keen on ancient fantasy epics. The previous weekend's champion, Lionsgate's Gods of Egypt, slipped just to second place. The Alex Proyas-directed movie took in another $1.4 million for a cume of $6.7 million, according to Lionsgate.

Local romantic comedy 8 luchshikh svidaniy (8 Best Dates) opened at No. 3 despite a controversy over its male lead Vladimir Zelensky. The Ukrainian actor is known for his anti-Kremlin stance, and there were calls in Russia for boycotting the movie. Still, it grossed $729,000, a decent figure for a local release.

Fox's Deadpool stayed in the top five for the fourth consecutive weekend, coming in No. 4 with $270,700 for a cume of $21.9 million.

Universal's Hail Caesar! launched at No. 5 with $377,000. It was the second-biggest opening in the market for the Coen brothers, behind only the filmmakers' Burn After Reading (2008).