'Shark' rips into Oz B.O.

'Tale' has happy ending

By DON GROVES

"Shark Tale" dove into boffo B.O. numbers Down Under, partly due to school vacation.

The gamble of releasing "Shark Tale" Down Under before its domestic preem looks like it's paying off for DreamWorks and UIP.

The toon rang up $392,000 on 270 locations Thursday in Australia, 56% bigger than the opening day of the original "Shrek" (although below "Finding Nemo"). That's in addition to $535,000 that the pic earned Monday-Wednesday from previews at 92 screens in Queensland and Victoria.

"Shark" netted $120,000 on 52 locations Thursday in New Zealand, double the first day of "Shrek" and 60% up on "Nemo."

"Those are great numbers," UIP prexy Andrew Cripps said Thursday.

DreamWorks agreed to release the pic in Oz and New Zealand before its U.S. launch Oct. 1 to take advantage of school vacations in both countries.

Also, Cripps said DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg was encouraged by the smash success of "Shrek 2" in Australia. Pic has amassed $35.2 million to rank as Oz's second-highest grosser of all time, behind "Titanic."

"Shark Tale" was heavily promoted on the Nine network's breakfast "Today" show as co-host Tracy Grimshaw voiced one of the characters, a newscaster named Katie Current, in the Oz version.

UIP is projecting a four-day Aussie haul of $2.1 million to $2.8 million.

The distrib is releasing the pic in October in most of the world. Exceptions include Italy, where it's due in February, and Japan, in March. As "Shrek 2" is still active in Scandinavia, the fish tale will go out in those territories at Christmas.