Fantasy actioner THE LORD OF THE RINGS, with primary visual effects by WETA, held on to the top spot in its fourth week in theaters with $16.2M, just edging out the number two film A BEAUTIFUL MIND, which took in $15.2M in its second week in wide release. That gives LORD a smashing cume of $228.3M. A BEAUTIFUL MIND, with primary visual effects by Digital Domain, has grossed $58.4M so far. OCEAN’S ELEVEN, with visual effects by E=mc2 and Cinesite, slid another spot to fourth, earning $7.7M for a generous 6-week cume of $162.7M. JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS earned $5.5M for the weekend, giving the Nick flick $69M after four weeks. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE, is still in the top ten after nine weeks, earning $3.6M this weekend for a total of $305.3M. MONSTERS, INC. dropped out of the top ten down to number 13, but still nabbed $2.2M for an 11-week total of $247.5M. That makes MONSTERS Disney/Pixar’s highest grossing film yet, topping 1999’s TOY STORY 2, which earned $245.9M. And landing in 15th place is the large format re-release of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Playing on 68 screens, the film grossed nearly $2.1M over the weekend for a total gross of $7.7M since its January 1st debut. Box office information obtained from yahoo.com and boxofficeguru.com.

The 10th anniversary large-format release of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST isn't so much a re-release as it is a re-do! Rick DeMott reports.