The first installment of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING is shaping up to be a huge success for New Line Cinema. Already benefiting from repeat viewings, the film, with primary digital effects by WETA in New Zealand, continues its number one run, bringing in $56.9M over the five-day holiday weekend for an astounding two-week total of $174.1M. Casino crime caper OCEAN’S ELEVEN, with visual effects by E=mc2 and Cinesite, is performing surprisingly well after four weeks in theaters, holding on to second place for the third week in a row earning $26.2M over the long weekend for a cume of $137M. The holiday weekend helped JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS stay in third place with a five-day take of $22.3M for $49.5M after twelve days. Family-friendly films are fairing well this holiday season, even the ones that have been around since November. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE, with visual effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Rhythm & Hues, moved up to fifth place and managed to pull in $16.9M over the five-day weekend bringing the film’s total to $291.6M. Look for the Warner Bros. fantasy to hit the $300M mark before the end of January. MONSTERS, INC. also benefited from the holiday weekend and moved up one spot from last week. Coming in ninth place, Disney/Pixar’s latest earned $9.5M for a monstrous box office total of $239.2M. As for the coming weekend, Oscar hopefuls A BEAUTIFUL MIND, already performing well in limited release, and THE SHIPPING NEWS are moving into wide release and the oft-delayed IMPOSTOR, with visual effects by ILM, is finally heading into theaters. In addition, the New Year’s Day large format/IMAX debut of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST should generate some large numbers for the re-release of the Disney classic.

Disney's big hit gets even bigger as it makes its way to the large format screen. Read Rick DeMott’s take on the re-release of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.