As with Ice Age Universal Pictures' $100 millionrelease opened on Wednesday to get a foothold ahead

As with "Ice Age," Universal Pictures' $100 millionrelease opened on Wednesday to get a foothold ahead of holidaydistractions Its five-day total stands at $41 million. Both Fox and Universal declared themselves thrilled withthe initial results. Comparisons with the first two "Ice Age"movies, released in 2002 and 2006, are difficult because theycame out on Fridays in March. They eventually earned $176million and $195 million domestically, respectively The newfilm cost $90 million to make, said Fox.

Some question marks did surround director Michael Mann's"Public Enemies," in which Depp plays Depression-era bankrobber John Dillinger, because moviegoers have opted forfantasy over serious dramas in recent months "Good news for people who like films about grown-ups. Thegenre is not dead," said Adam Fogelson, Universal's presidentof marketing and distribution. "Transformers" has earned $293 million after 12 days ofrelease in the United States and Canada, about $100 millionmore than its 2007 predecessor had earned in the same period.The sequel also surpassed Paramount's "Star Trek" ($250million) to become the biggest movie of the year in themarkets Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc (VIAb.N). Universal is aunit of General Electric Co's (GE.N) NBC Universal (Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Stocks Media France. KHARTOUM, July 5 (Reuters) - Sudan's president said on Sunday sanctions could not block development in his country, as he unveiled its first home-manufactured aircraft -- a $15,000 training plane that runs on car fuel. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir spoke at the latest in a string of defiant rallies mounted after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him in March, to face charges of masterminding atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region.

Bashir has repeatedly sought to highlight his government's development record since the court ruling, speaking this year at the opening of a hydroelectric dam, a new bridge in Khartoum and Sudan's first ethanol plant, among other projects. On Sunday he spoke at the launch of the Safat-01 aircraft, a two-seater propeller plane produced at Sudan's state Safat Aviation Complex, part of the country's Ministry of Defence, according to its website "Sudan has its own military industry. It makes tanks, missiles and many types of guns, all made by Sudanese hands," Bashir told hundreds of supporters outside the plant in Wadi Sayidina military area, north of the capital. "Today, Sudan has entered a new industry -- aviation," he added.