M. Night Shyamalan delivered once again for Disney and Buena Vista, as THE VILLAGE (with some vfx by ILM) scared up an opening gross of nearly $51M for the weekend ended Aug.1, 2004. It is Disney's first hit of the season. Overall, the nation's theaters reported record numbers for July of $1.32B, up from last year's $1.2B, thanks in part to a 6% rise in admissions - 213M vs. 200M. Universal's THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (also with vfx by ILM) took second place in its second outing with $24.1M and $98.8M to date. Debuting at number three was Paramount's remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, which bowed with an impressive $20M. Fox's I, ROBOT (with vfx by Digital Domain and Patrick Tatopoulos Design) scored another $10.3M to finish fourth with a cume of $115M. Sony's SPIDER-MAN 2 (with vfx from Sony Pictures Imageworks and Radium Inc.) came in fifth with $8.6M and $344.4M to date. Warner Bros.' CATWOMAN (with vfx by ESC and Tippett Studio) dropped to sixth in its second outing, managing $6.4M on its way to a disappointing $29.7M. New Line's hip comedy, HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE debuted with an unimpressive $5.4M. Warner Bros.' A CINDERELLA STORY settled for eighth place with $4.8M and a total of $40.3M. DreamWorks' ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY (with vfx by E=mc2) tallied $3.1M for the ninth spot and a cume of $78.1M. Michael Moore's FAHRENHEIT 9/11 came in 10th place with $3.1, while accumulating a record $109.4M for Lions Gate. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
