Opening in just 940 theaters, JONAH: A VEGGIETALES MOVIE had a solid debut weekend, earning $6.5M for sixth place. A retelling of the biblical story of Jonah, starring a humble cast of vegetables, JONAH will expand into more theaters this Friday, ramping up to wide release on October 18th. Given the popularity of the VEGGIETALES stories, and that this is the first family-friendly release since August, JONAH looks to have some staying power at the box office. The number one film this weekend was RED DRAGON, the "prequel" to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and HANNIBAL. The thriller debuted with $37.5M. SWEET HOME ALABAMA took second with $21.6M, for a total of $65.6M. Action comedy THE TUXEDO, with visual effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks, slipped just one spot to third, adding another $10M for a two-week gross of $28.1M. MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING stayed in fourth place for the second week in a row. The romantic comedy added another $8.4M for a cume of $148M, and became the highest grossing independent film ever, besting1999's THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT's $140.5M take. After expanding into 44 more theaters this weekend, Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY jumped up one spot on the chart, moving to 16th place with a weekend gross of $630,000 for a three-week total of $1.9M. The film is currently playing in 97 theaters in 19 cities across North America. Box office information obtained from yahoo.com and boxofficemojo.com.
Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea Productions, explains how he turned a bunch of God loving vegetables into one of the hottest commodities around. Let's face itthese legumes are cute! Really cute! Rick DeMott reports.
