$100M Mouse Slips To 2nd

files/pictures/picture-35.jpgSony's US$100 million plus grossing film STUART LITTLE couldn't hold off

the live-action comedy NEXT FRIDAY at the U.S. box office thus slipping to

second place. The mega-mouse flick, with primary visual effects by Sony

Pictures Imageworks, additional animation by CFX and Rhythm & Hues, and

miniatures by Thunderstone, grossed US$9.7 million bringing its grand total

to $106.8 million. THE GREEN MILE, with primary visual effects by ILM,

Rhythm & Hues, POP and Matte World Digital, fell to 5th place grossing $7.6

million bringing its cume to $101.3 million. GALAXY QUEST, with primary

visual effects by ILM and additional effects by Light Matters, stayed

strong at #6 with a gross of $6.6 million and a cume of $44.8 million. The

critics' new favorite whipping post, SUPERNOVA, with primary visual effects

by Digital Domain, finished the weekend at #8 grossing $5.7 million. Thomas

Lee directed the film, but who is Thomas Lee? Well, he is nobody. Original

director Walter Hill wanted no part in the finished product, thus MGM gave

the credit to the ficticious Thomas Lee after Francis Ford Coppola

reportedly finished up directing the flick. Not a winning endorsement for

quality storytelling. Finishing off the top ten, TOY STORY 2 finished in

9th place with a gross of $5 million and a cume of $225.9 million. Still on

only 54 IMAX screens, FANTASIA/2000 made a reported $2.3 million bringing

its total to $12.6 million. If the toon keeps up its current pace by the

time it hits the local U.S. movie houses in April, it will have already

made $34 million. Box office figures obtained from Daily Variety.