Buena Vista's sled dog race movie, EIGHT BELOW (with vfx by Stan Winston Studio, Stan Winston Digital, Illusion Arts, CIS Hollywood & ILM), was the surprising winner in the four-day President's Day weekend box office race, debuting at $25M for the weekend ended Feb. 20, 2006. Also leading the pack in a strong second place was Fox's DATE MOVIE, with Furious FX and Pacific Title contributing vfx, and an opening debut of $21.8M. Sony Pictures remake of the PINK PANTHER (2D animated titles by Kurtz & Friends, vfx by Pixel Magic), slipped slightly to number three taking in another $21.8 for a cume of $46.5. The 2D-animated CUROUS GEORGE, from Universal and Imagine Ent., took in another $15.3M for a fourth place finish with $33.5M in its first two weeks. New Lines FINAL DESITNATION 3 dropped to the fifth spot with $11.5M and a $37.2M cume. Meteor Studios, Digital Dimension and SOHO VFX contributed vfx on the sequel.
Warner Bros. FIREWALL (with vfx by The Senate VFX and Rainmaker) placed sixth with a take of $10.4 and $28.7 in its first two weeks. FREEDOMLAND debuted in the seventh spot for a take of $6.7M while Foxs BIG MOMMAS HOUSE 2 (vfx work by Pixel Magic & Steve Wright Digital FX) slipped to eighth with $5.8M and a cume of $62.7M. Coming in ninth was Screen Gems remake of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (vfx by Asylum Visual Effects), scaring up another $5.8M and a $42.1M cume. Finishing in10th place was Universals NANNY MCPHEE (with vfx from Framestore CFC), bringing home $5.1M and $39.2M overall. In its 10th week of release, the Weinstein Co.s 3D-animated HOODWINKED dropped out of top 10, to the 14th spot with $1.7M and a cume of $49.6M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
