Warner Bros. BATMAN BEGINS (with vfx from Double Negative, MPC, Rising Sun Pictures and BUF) continued its box office reign for the weekend ended June 26, 2005, grabbing $27.5M and a two-week cume of $122.5M. Sonys BEWITCHED (with vfx from Sony Pictures Imageworks) bowed in second place with $20.1M. However, it wasnt enough to prevent the overall domestic box office from slumping for the 18th consecutive week.
Foxs MR. AND MRS. SMITH (with vfx by Digital Dimension) followed in third with $16.8M and a total of $125.5M. Buena Vistas HERBIE: FULLY LOADED (with vfx from Entity FX, ILM and a host of other boutiques) debuted in fourth with $12.7M. Universals LAND OF THE DEAD (with work from Switch VFX and Spin) bowed in fifth with $10.2M. DreamWorks MADAGASCAR slipped to sixth with $7.4M and a cume of $160.1M. Foxs REVENGE OF THE SITH (with stunning vfx from ILM) came in seventh with $6.1M for a total of $358.4M. Paramounts THE LONGEST YARD (with vfx by Rhythm & Hues) fell to eighth with $5.5M and $141.9M. Dimensions THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY AND LAVA GIRL IN 3-D (with vfx from Troublemaker, Hybride, Hydraulx, ILM, The Orphanage, Tippett and others) came in ninth with $3.4M and a cume of $30.5M. Universals CINDERELLA MAN (with vfx from Digital Domain) settled for the 10th spot with $3.4M and a total of $49.7M.
Hayao Miyazakis well-received HOWLS MOVING CASTLE dipped to 16th place in its third week with $581,654 and $2.5M for Buena Vista (with Pixars Pete Docter and Disneys Rick Dempsey overseeing the American version). Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
