BRUCE ALMIGHTY, the God-induced comedy starring Jim Carrey, scored highest over the Memorial Day weekend, upending the mighty MATRIX RELOADED. The Universal feature, boasting VFX by Illusion Arts (Collin Fowler was the VFX coordinator), took in $86.4M over the four-day period, while Warner Bros.' MATRIX RELOADED dropped 50% in its second week, with $45.7M, despite the biggest ever four-day gross. At $209.5M, the visual effects feast included work from Amalgamated Pixels, Animal Logic, BUF, Bullet Time, CIS, CFX, ESC Entertainment, Giant Killer Robots, PLF Sony Pictures Imageworks and Tippett Studio. However, it broke international box office records around the world taking in $113.2M from 62 countries, which is the first time in history a film has surpassed the $100 million level in one weekend. Sony/Revolution's DADDY DAY CARE dropped to third place, but lost less than 5%, with $18M for a $73M cume. Fox's X2: X-MEN UNITED came in fourth place with $13M for a total of $192M. Contributing VFX to the blockbuster were Cinesite, EYETECH Optics, Frantic Films, Kleiser-Walczak Construction Co. and Rhythm & Hues. Warner Bros,' THE IN-LAWS, meanwhile, debuted in the fifth spot with $9.1M. Cinesite handled VFX chores, with Randall Bahnsen serving as 3D motion tracking supervisor. Fox's DOWN WITH LOVE, featuring VFX by Asylum, hung in there in sixth place with another $5M for a total of $14.6M Disney's THE LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE, dropped to seventh place, with $4M and a $37.3 cume. Rainmaker Digital Pictures did VFX for the film based on the hit TV series about a teen with an animated alter ego. Disney's HOLES held onto the eighth spot with $3M for an impressive total of $60M. Digital FilmWorks and Avtoma of L.A. contributed effects for VFX supervisor William Mesa, founder of Flash Film Works, whose studio did the majority of the work. Sony's IDENTITY plummeted to ninth place with $2.6M for a total of $49.2M. K.N.B. EFX Group Inc. did VFX work for the suspense flick. Sony/Revolutions' ANGER MANAGEMENT suffered a 32.5% drop as it rounded out the tenth spot with $2.4M for a cume of nearly $132M. Sony Pictures Imageworks and the Orphanage did VFX for ANGER.
