Buena Vistas THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA squeaked past Universals KING KONG at the New Years holiday box office ended Jan. 2, 2006. With impressive vfx from Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and ILM, NARNIA garnered $33.7M. Meanwhile, KONG (with impressive vfx of its own from Weta Digital) captured $31.8M. Thus, NARNIA has a four-week cume of $225.7M vs. KONGs three-week cume of $174.5M.
Holding third and fourth place were FUN WITH DICK AND JANE and CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2. Sonys FUN brought home $21M for a two-week cume of $64.6M and Foxs CHEAPER responded with $18.8M for a two-week tally of $54.6M. Warner Bros. RUMOR HAS IT shot up to fifth place with $11.7M and $26.8M. Holding sixth place was Foxs THE FAMILY STONE, which gathered $10.2M for a cume of $46.3M. Sonys MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA fell to the seventh spot with $10.2M and $30.6M. Fox Searchlights THE RINGER followed in eighth place with $8M and $21.6M. Holding ninth with $7.6M was Warner Bros. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, the hit of the holiday season. With standout vfx from Double Negative, Framestore CFC, MPC, ILM, Cinesite, Animal Logic, The Orphanage, BUF and Rising Sun, the fourth HARRY POTTER movie has earned $277M. Rounding out the top 10 was Steven Spielbergs MUNICH (from Universal), which attracted $6.4M in limited release and a cume of $15.9M.
Meanwhile, the re-release of THE POLAR EXPRESS: THE IMAX 3-D EXPERIENCE took in $10M over the holidays. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
