8. OCEAN’S ELEVEN SINKS HARRY POTTER. The remake of the Rat Pack classic OCEAN’S ELEVEN, with visual effects by E=mc2 and Cinesite, topped the box office this weekend, raking in $38.1M and taking the prize for the biggest December opening of all time. OCEAN’S ELEVEN was the only new wide release this weekend, so as each film moved down a notch to make room for the new number one, the order of the top ten stayed relatively the same. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE, with visual effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Rhythm & Hues, was second with $14.7M and a cume of $239.7M. BEHIND ENEMY LINES, with visual effects by Reality Check Studios and OCS/Freeze Frame/Pixel Magic, lost 57% of its audience in its second week and dropped to third. The war adventure earned $8.1M for a gross of $31.2M to date. The added animated "outtakes" helped MONSTERS, INC. stay in fourth place, grossing $6.6M this weekend giving the Disney/Pixar film a cume of $212.4M after six weeks of release. With MONSTERS holding steady in fourth, action thriller SPY GAME, with visual effects by Cinesite, fell two spots to fifth place, bringing in $4.5M for $54M to date. In seventh place, romantic comedy SHALLOW HAL, with visual effects by Alterian Studios and Artist's Asylum Inc., earned $2.6M over the weekend giving the film $64.8M to date. The snowboarding flick OUT COLD, with visual effects by Gajdecki Visual Effects (GVFX), was down one from last week, sliding into eighth place with $1.4M and $12.3M total. Richard Linklater’s animated film WAKING LIFE is still in about 75 theaters around the country, averaging about $1,150 per screen for 29th place. The film has grossed $2.2M after eight weeks of release. Box office information obtained from yahoo.com.



Richard Linklater's latest film has caused quite a stir in the animation community. Is it really animated? Why is it "animated?" Is this just what the animated feature world needs or a sneaky imposter? Read what Gregory Singer has to say about WAKING LIFE.