Sony's SPIDER-MAN 2 spun its way to the top of the box office weekend, ended July 12, 2004, catching another $46M in its web with a cume of $257M. The sequel (with vfx from Sony Pictures Imageworks and Radium Inc.) streaked past the $200M milestone in a record eight days, the $250M mark in a record 12 days and is fast approaching the $300M benchmark. DreamWork’s ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY (vfx by E=mc2) opened in second place with $28M. KING ARTHUR trailed behind in a third place debut, taking in $15.2M over the weekend and a total of $23.6M since its open last Wednesday. Cinesite (Europe) and Neil Corbould Special Effects Ltd. did vfx on the Buena Vista release.

Michael Moore's FAHRENHEIT 9/11 dipped into fourth place with $11M, adding $80.1M to its cume for Lions Gate. New Line's romantic weepie, THE NOTEBOOK, rose slightly to fifth with $6.5M and a three-week cume of $43.1M. Sony's WHITE CHICKS followed in sixth with $6.2M and $57M. Fox's comedy, DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY, fell down to seventh with $5.7M and a $97.8M cume. DreamWorks' THE TERMINAL dropped to eighth with $5M and a disappointing $65.2M to date, considering the Spielberg/Hanks one-two punch. Holding the ninth spot with the best numbers yet for an animated feature was DreamWorks' SHREK 2, bringing in $4.4M and $418.5M. Debuting in 10th was MGM’s SLEEPOVER (with vfx by THDX Studios), which brought in $4.2M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.