PhotoAn omnipresent, nine-month marketing campaign propelled “The Angry Birds Movie” to No. Sony, working hard to move beyond a prolonged box-office rough patch, distributed “Angry Birds” in return for a 7 percent slice of ticket sales. Most of the “Angry Birds” financial risk fell to Rovio, the Finnish video game company, which paid $173 million to make and market the movie. “Angry Birds,” based on a 2009 mobile game that became a pop-culture craze, sold an estimated $39 million in tickets, on the high end of prerelease analyst expectations. 1 at the North American box office over the weekend, giving Sony Pictures an important feather for its frayed cap.

Source: New York Times May 22, 2016 11:13 UTC