'Finding Dory' projected for $140 million opening weekend; Will it open bigger than any animated film in history?

"Finding Dory," the long awaited sequel of Pixar's 2003 movie "Finding Nemo," is all set to become one the highest-grossing movies of the year, as the movie has been almost universally praised both by critics and fans alike.

According to Comic Book, "Finding Dory" is looking forward to garner $140 million in its opening weekend. If it happens, the movie will be the third-highest grossing opening weekend of 2016, behind "Captain America: Civil War" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." However, it will still be ahead of another blockbuster hit, "Deadpool."

The projected earnings would also make the movie one of the ten highest-grossing films of 2016. "Angry Birds" is 2016's eighth-highest-grossing movie and it has earned only $101 million at the North American box office yet, as reported by Comic Book. "X-Men: Apocalypse" has earned $140 million in its third week currently.

Besides all the facts, the most important one is, "Finding Dory" is about to open bigger than any animated movie in the history of cinema. Its projected $140.6 million opening weekend will easily beat the current record-holder "Shrek the Third" that opened with $122 million.

"Finding Dory" made an estimated $55 million on the first Friday, beating out the record of "Shrek the Third," that had made $47 million in its first day. It seems that the movie will recover director Andrew Stanton's reputation who previously lost Disney around $200 million with "John Carter" in spite of the movie being loved by the audiences.

Disney holds three of 2016's top five spots at the domestic box office with "Civil War," "Zootopia," and "The Jungle Book." As Fox's "Deadpool" is a Marvel property, Disney has got a stake in it too.

Though the final earnings of "Finding Dory" will be revealed only after the weekend, it is surely going to be one of the most successful and beloved movie of 2016.