Animation Overload: Will 'Ice Age: Collision Course' Stand Out?

Family-friendly animated movies have had a great year so far. In the first half of 2016, four of the top 10 highest-grossing films - Zootopia, Finding Dory, Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Angry Birds Movie - have been CGI-animated films primarily at kids. The other six films in the top 10 are sequels or installments in on-going franchises. On July 22, Ice Age: Collision Course will incorporate both of those qualities to try to stand out at the very crowded summer box office.

The Ice Age franchise has seen diminishing returns after its second installment, Ice Age: The Meltdown, delivered the fourth biggest animated opening of all time back in 2006. The third and fourth installments have not done huge business in the United States, but they've performed very well abroad, and that's likely to be the case with Collision Course, as well.

It's worth noting that three weeks ahead of its U.S. release, Collision Course is getting more social media attention than most other upcoming films. The Ice Age movie will debut at a difficult time, though; Finding Dory will be just over a month old at that point, and the animated The Secret Life Of Pets will have premiered just two weeks before. Ice Age will have a tough battle to win over the finite time and dollars that families have available to spend at the box office.

If Collision Course follows the trend of past franchise installments, it should earn an opening weekend gross of $40 to $45 million.