Universals MEET THE FOCKERS was a no brainer in its box office debut for the yuletide period ended Dec. 26, 2005. It took in a hefty $46.1M for the weekend and $70.5M for the five days, including a record-breaking $19.1M for Christmas Day.
However, the rest of the field was less impressive and overall box office for 2004 was barely ahead of last year, with attendance down for the comparable period.
Paramounts LEMONY SNICKETS A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, with Oscar-contending vfx by ILM, finished second in its sophomore weekend with $12.6M and a cume of $59.4M. Foxs FAT ALBERT (with animation produced by Warner Bros. Animation) bowed in third place with $10M. Miramaxs THE AVIATOR (with vfx by Sony Pictures Imageworks) flew to number four with $8.6M and a cume of $9.9M. Warner Bros. OCEANS TWELVE dropped to fifth with $8.4M and $86.6M to date. Warner Bros. THE POLAR EXPRESS (with vfx by Sony Imageworks) continues to hang in there, collecting another $6.5M to finish sixth with a total of $140.2M. Dimensions DARKNESS debuted in seventh with $6.1M. Sonys SPANGLISH finished eighth with $4.6M and a cume of $18.1M. Buena Vistas THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (with vfx by Gray Matter FX) catapulted to ninth with $4.5M and a total of $4.95M. And Warner Bros. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (with vfx from Cinesite (Europe) and Asylum) debuted in 10th place in a limited bow with $4M and a five-day total of $6.3M.
Meanwhile, for the first time, Disney/Pixars THE INCREDIBLES dropped out of the top 10, collecting $2.4M for a total of $242.4M.
Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
