Exceeding expectations, Fox's THE SIMPSONS MOVIE finally rolled into theaters with $74M gross for the weekend period ended July 29, 2007. Last week's winner, I PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY, fell to second place with $19.1M for a cume of $71.6M. Warner Bros.' HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (with vfx by Double Negative, Framestore CFC, ILM, Cinesite, MPC, Rising Sun and more) descended to third with $17.7M and a tally of $242.4M. New Line's HAIRSPRAY slowed down to fourth with $15.8M and a cume of $59.6M. NO RESERVATIONS opened in fifth for Warner Bros. with $11.7M. TRANSFORMERS (with vfx from ILM, Digital Domain and others) slipped to sixth, taking in another $11.6M and bringing its domestic total to $284.6M. Disney/Pixar's RATATOUILLE settled for seventh with $7.4M, bringing its total to $179.9M. LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (with primary vfx from Digital Dimension and The Orphanage) claimed the eighth slot for Fox with $5.6M, bringing its total to $125.3M. And two newcomers took ninth and 10th: Sony's I KNOW WHO KILLED ME with $3.5M and MGM/Weinstein's WHO'S YOUR CADDY? with $2.7M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
