The 2007 box office year ended with a bang, thanks to an estimated gross of $9.62 billion for the New Year's five-day period ended Jan. 1, 2008, up 4% from last year.
Leading the charge for the second consecutive week was Buena Vista's NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS (with vfx from Asylum), with an estimated bounty of $55.4M for a cume of $143.8M. Jumping from third to second was Fox's surprisingly strong ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS (with vfx from Rhythm & Hues), which collected $42.2M for a cume of $154.5M. Slipping from second to third was Warner Bros.' I AM LEGEND (with vfx from Sony Pictures Imageworks), which collected $38M for a total of $205M. Following in fourth was CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (with vfx supervised by Richard Edlund), which provided another $20.5M for Universal, bringing its cume to $43.2M. Fox Searchlight's JUNO occupied fifth place with $15.7M and a $31M tally. Settling for sixth was Sony's THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP (with vfx from Weta Digital), which accrued $14M for a cume of $21.6M since its Christmas Day opening. The seventh place finisher was Fox's ALIEN VS. PREDATOR--REQUIEM (with vfx from Hydraulx), which battled for $13.8M and a cume of $30.6M. Warner Bros.' P.S. I LOVE YOU came in eighth with $13M and a cume of $27.3M. Coming in ninth was SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (with vfx from MPC), which captured $11.7M and a cume of $30.5M. And 10th place belonged to Buena Vista's ENCHANTED (with vfx from Tippett Studio), which added $9.6M to its tally of $113.8M.
Meanwhile, the animated PERSEPOLIS garnered $142,000 on seven screens for Sony Pictures Classics, giving the critical favorite $218,000 since opening Christmas Day. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
