RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALPSE won the box office derby in its debut for the weekend ended Sept. 12, 2004. The horror flick (with vfx by C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, Mr. X Inc., Animated Extras International Ltd., Fantasy II Film Effects and Soho VFX) took in $23M for Screen Gems. Debuting in second place was New Lines thriller, CELLULAR, which grabbed $10.1M.
Paramounts WITHOUT A PADDLE finished third with $4.5M for a four-week cume of $45.5M. Miramaxs Asian import, HERO, fell from first to fourth, adding another $4.4M to its three-week total of $41.6M, with vfx supplied by Animal Logic, The Orphanage and Tweak Films . Buena Vistas THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT held the fifth spot with $2.9 M and a cume of $89.2M.
Screen Gems ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID (with vfx by Photon) scored $2.8M for a sixth-place finish and has collected $27.5M to date. Foxs PAPARAZZI slipped to seventh with $2.77M. DreamWorks COLLATERAL came in eighth with $2.71M for a total of $92.6M. Focus Films period drama VANITY FAIR held the ninth spot with $2.6M and a two-week total of $11M. Fox Searchlights NAPOLEON DYNAMITE jumped to 10th in its 14th week, adding $2.5M to its impressive cume of $30.2M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
