Is Ice Age 2 bigger than Pixar?

It is estimated that Ice Age: The Meltdown will rake in $70.5 million before the weekend is over.

Seventy point five. Yowch.

Not only does that beat every Disney opening weekend ever — the highest they’ve ever gone is $40.9 million for The Lion King, back in 1994 — but it also ties Pixar’s record of $70.5 million for The Incredibles (2004), and it easily beats every DreamWorks cartoon except Shrek 2 (2004), which opened with $108 million.

So, bottom line: Ice Age: The Meltdown could turn out to have the second-biggest opening weekend of any cartoon, ever.

At least until Cars.

APR 3 UPDATE: Turns out those estimates were a tad optimistic — Ice Age: The Meltdown grossed $68 million and thus ranks fourth, after Shrek 2, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo (2003).