Horror ruled the box office once again with the debut of Lionsgates HOSTEL (with vfx by Precinct 13 Ent.), which captured $19.5M for the weekend ended Jan. 8, 2005.
Slipping back to second place was Buena Vistas THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. With impressive vfx from Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and ILM, the holiday blockbuster earned another $15.6M on its way to $247.7M. Universals KING KONG (with impressive vfx of its own from Weta Digital) settled for third with $12.6M and a cume of $192.6M. Fourth and fifth went to FUN WITH DICK AND JANE and CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2. Sonys FUN brought home $11.9M for a tally of $81, and Foxs CHEAPER 2 responded with $8.4M for a cume of $66.5M. Expanding wide, Steven Spielbergs MUNICH jumped to sixth place, providing Universal with $7.5M and $25.3M. Sonys MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (with vfx by CafeFx) held the seventh spot with $6.1M and $39.8M. Focus highly acclaimed BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN added some theaters and shot up to eighth with $5.72M for a cume of $22.4M. Warner Bros. RUMOR HAS IT followed in ninth with $5.7M and $35.2M. Coming in 10th was Foxs THE FAMILY STONE with $4.6M and a cume of $53.1M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
