BORAT!: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN easily topped the other new opening films and recent releases, taking in $26.5M for Fox at its debut, which is a record weekend gross for a modest theater count. The politically incorrect comedy averaged $31,607 a theater for the weekend ended Nov. 5, 2006,
THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE (vfx from Tippett Studio and Furious FX) delivered a second place finish for its debut, taking in $19.5M for Buena Vista while the Aardman/DreamWorks joint CGI effort, FLUSHED AWAY, finished third in its opening weekend with $18.8M.
SAW III (with vfx from Switch VFX) dropped to fourth place with another $14.8M for Lionsgate Films, for a cume of $59.4M. Martin Scorseses THE DEPARTED (vfx from The Basement, Lola Visual Effects and Ockhams Razor) slipped to fifth, taking in another $7.7M for a total cume of $102M for Warner Bros. Chris Nolans magic thriller, THE PRESTIGE, dropped to sixth place, conjuring $7.5M and a cume of $39.1. Slipping down to seventh place was Clint Eastwoods FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, which took in another $4.4M (with vfx from Digital Domain) for a cume of $26.5M. Universals MAN OF THE YEAR dropped a notch to eighth place with $3.6M and $33.8M.
Now in ninth place was Sonys first 3D-animated OPEN SEASON, which brought home $2.9M for a cume of $81.2M. That makes two 3D CGI movies in the weekly top 10 against holiday and Oscar race live-action contenders.
Climbing up to 10th was Miramax's THE QUEEN, which bestowed $2.9M for a cume of $9.9M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
