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Perseverance pays off for Canadian producer Catherine Winder. More than three years of dedicated devotion to The Angry Birds Movie is finally reaping rewards.

Winder and folks at a Vancouver-based animation company are quietly celebrating a $43 million U.S. take in 73 international markets for the animated motion picture based on Rovio’s video game series.

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The early box office counts as good news for the potential Angry Birds franchise, and the film, which opens in Canada and the U.S. this weekend.

Directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly, the movie showcases happy flightless birds Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis), Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride), who try to figure out what’s up when green piggies invade their island.

Voicing other characters in the laughfest are Peter Dinklage, Sean Penn, Tony Hale, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader and Kate McKinnon.

Certainly, the film has a built-in audience. The video game puzzle was created in 2009 and has since sold over 12 million copies world-wide.