Tim Burtons CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (with delightful vfx from MPC, Framestore CFC, Cinesite and Digital Domain), is a double delight for Warner Bros., leading the box office for a second week in a row, taking in another $28.2M for a total of $114M for the weekend ended July 24, 2005.
Continuing Warners good news, its sister division New Line held the No. 2 spot for the R-rated comedy, WEDDING CRASHERS, taking in $25.7M for an unexpected $80.4M cume. Foxs FANTASTIC FOUR (with vfx principally from Giant Killer Robots, Stan Winston Digital and Soho VFX) remained at third with a take of $12.6M for a three-week take of $122.9M. DreamWorks THE ISLAND (vfx by ILM and K.N.B. EFX) hit the charts in fourth place with a take of $12.4M. Paramounts BAD NEWS BEARS (vfx by CafeFX) debuted in fifth place with $11.4M. Also from Paramount, WAR OF THE WORLDS (with vfx from ILM) dropped to sixth place with $8.9M and a cume of $208.4M. Crunk Pictures HUSTLE AND FLOW opened in seventh place with $8M.
Moviegoers accepted Lions Gate horror flick THE DEVILS REJECTS (Robert Kurtzman was vfx supervisor) to open in eighth place with a take of $7.1M. Warner Bros. BATMAN BEGINS (with vfx from Double Negative, MPC, Rising Sun Pictures and BUF) dropped to the ninth spot with $4.7M and a $191.1M cume. Stepping on the toes of the big summer movies is the documentary film from Warner Independent Pictures, MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, roundi9ng out the box office in 10thplace with a take of $4.8M and a cume of $9.3M.
Hayao Miyazakis HOWLS MOVING CASTLE collected another $77,716 for a cume of $4.3M for Buena Vista (with Pixars Pete Docter and Disneys Rick Dempsey overseeing the American version). It now ranks seventh on the all-time list of anime titles. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
