'Lorax' boffo at weekend B.O.

'The Lorax'Backed by an aggressive marketing and promotional campaign, Universal's "The Lorax" scored a boffo $70.7 million for the weekend, marking the highest domestic opening for a non-sequel toon, the biggest Stateside bow for Chris Meledandri's Illumination Entertainment, and the best-ever debut for a Dr. Seuss adaptation.U signed more than 70 global partnerships, based primarily on the film's eco-friendly message. Promotional partners included such companies and organizations as the EPA, Hewlett Packard, Seventh Generation and Mazda.The studio held off from releasing "Lorax" day-and-date overseas -- a major push is planned to start over the next few months, timed for Easter and school holidays.Playing second fiddle to "The Lorax," Warner Bros.' R-rated counterprogrammer "Project X" managed to score a hearty $20.7 million domestic bow. "X," which cost $12 million to produce, was projected by most pre-weekend tracking services to land somewhere in the mid-to-high teens.Weekend box office was up more than 23% vs. this time last year, maintaining what's now a nine-week year-over-year streak. Moreover, 2012 year-to-date B.O. is outpacing 2011 by 19%, with admissions up even further by 21%."Lorax" scored 52% of its opening from 3D, including 8% in Imax. That's at the high-end of recent 3D animated fare: "Happy Feet Two" earned 48% from 3D, while "Puss in Boots" had 50%."Audiences were aware of this movie ever since the marketing campaign first popped up last year," said U prexy of domestic distribution Nikki Rocco. "Still, I never thought it would open to $70 million-plus."The specialty biz saw mixed results from new and expanding titles, however.Focus Features' "Being Flynn" opened to a disappointing per-screen average of $11,386 from four locations in NY and L.A.Meanwhile, the Weinstein Co.'s "The Artist," with a cume of $37 million, did well in its first post-Oscars frame, improving by 34% for an estimated weekend gross of $3.9 million. TWC's other Oscar-winning title, "The Iron Lady," at $27 million domestically, was up 29% with 11 fewer locations vs. last weekend. "The Artist" added 790 playdates. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com