Sony held the first three spots on the box office chart for the Valentines Weekend ended Feb. 13, 2005, with the Will Smith-starrer, HITCH, breaking the record for romantic comedy bows with $43.1M. Screen Gems BOOGEYMAN followed with $10.2 and a two-week cume of $32.7M and Sonys ARE WE THERE YET? picked up $8.2M and $61.2M. Clint Eastwoods Oscar contender, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, moved up to fourth with some big mo, knocking down another $7.4M and $44.9M so far. Disneys 2D-animated POOHS HEFFALUMP MOVIE debuted in fifth place with a modest $5.8M (compared to PIGLETS $6M and TIGGERS $9.4M). Universals THE WEDDING DATE dropped to sixth with $5.5M and $19.4M. Foxs HIDE AND SEEK finished seventh with $5.4M and $43.4M. Martin Scorseses THE AVIATOR, the other big Oscar contender (with vfx from Sony Pictures Imageworks and CaféFX), collected $4.7M to finish in eighth place for Miramax. The Howard Hughes biopic has now surpassed CAPE FEAR as the directors highest grosser. Fox Searchlights Oscar contender, SIDEWAYS, harvested $4.4M and a cume of $52.7M. Universals MEET THE FOCKERS settled for 10th with $3.4M for a whopping total of $269.9M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
