Fox's movie parody, EPIC, which makes fun of several high profile vfx movies of last year, opened in first place at the box office with $18.6M for the weekend ended Jan. 28, 2007. Universal's new entry, SMOKIN' ACES debuted in second with $14.6M. Fox's NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM (with vfx by Rhythm & Hues, Rainmaker, The Orphanage and Weta Digital) slipped to third place with $9.5M for a cume of $216.8M. Fourth place belonged to last week's winner, STOMP THE YARD, which provided Screen Gems with $7.6M for a total of $50.5M. The fifth place entry was Sony's new romantic comedy, CATCH AND RELEASE, which bowed at $7.6M. Paramount/DreamWorks' DREAMGIRLS (with vfx from Gray Matter FX) dropped to sixth with $6.7M for a cume of $86.7M. Sony's THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS settled for seventh with $4.9M and a cume of $152.9M. Picturehouse's PAN'S LABRYINTH (with CafeFX serving as production partner as well as vfx provider) received a slight Oscar bump but still slipped one spot to eighth place, taking in $4.7M for a cume of $16.5M. Miramax's THE QUEEN held the ninth spot with its Best Picture nomination, adding $4M to its tally of $41.2M. Dropping to 10th was THE HITCHER remake from Rogue Pictures, with $3.6M for a two-week cume of $13.4M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
