BATMAN BEGINS posted strong if not super debut numbers for Warner Bros., grabbing $48.7M for the weekend ended June 19, 2005, and $72.8M overall for its first five days. Also impressive was the record-breaking $3.1M from IMAX. Vfx from Double Negative, MPC, Rising Sun Pictures and BUF certainly contributed to the visual success of Chris Nolans back to basics approach. Meanwhile, overseas, BATMAN BEGINS took in a good if not spectacular $41.7M on 8,000 screens, and was actually outperformed by MADAGASCAR in Australia, Spain and the Netherlands.
Even so, domestic box office was down for the 17th consecutive week, tying a 20-year-old record. Foxs MR. AND MRS. SMITH (with vfx by Digital Dimension) finished in second place with $26M and a two-week cume of $96.6M, while DreamWorks 3D-animated MADAGASCAR slipped to the third spot with $10.7M and $146.8M so far. Foxs REVENGE OF THE SITH (with that stunning ILM vfx) followed in fourth with $10M and a cume of $348.1M. Paramounts THE LONGEST YARD (with vfx by Rhythm & Hues) dipped to fifth place with $8.2M and a cume of $132.1M. 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 sixth with $6.6M and a two-week total of $24M. Universals CINDERELLA MAN (with vfx from Digital Domain) settled for seventh with $5.5M and a disappointing three-week cume of $43.8M. Universals THE PERFECT MAN debuted in eighth place with $5.3M. Warner Bros. THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS fell to ninth place with $3.1M and $30.1M. Paramounts THE HONEYMOONERS took the 10th spot with $2.6M and a two-week cume of $9.5M
Hayao Miyazakis well-received HOWLS MOVING CASTLE moved up a notch in its second week to 13th place with $864,761 and $1.4M for Buena Vista (with Pixars Pete Docter and Disneys Rick Dempsey overseeing the American version) in only 202 theaters. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
