Transporter 2 Rules Labor Day Box Office
The disappointing summer ended with a bang, as Foxs action thriller, TRANSPORTER 2 (with vfx by big red pixel), broke the Labor Day opening record with $20.1M for the holiday period ended Sept. 5, 2005. Overall, the Labor Day box office topped last years, as the summer closed 9% lower than the record-breaking 94 season.
Universals THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN slipped to second place with $16.5M for a three-week cume of $71.8M. Focus Features indie thriller, THE CONSTANT GARDENER (with vfx from Framestore CFC), opened in third place with $10.9M. DreamWorks RED EYE (with vfx by Digital Dream) followed in the fourth spot with $9.4M and $45.5M to date. Dimensions THE BROTHERS GRIMM (with vfx by Peerless Camera Co. Ltd., Lip Sync Post and Artem Ltd.) dipped to fifth place with $9M and $28.7M. Paramounts FOUR BROTHERS (with vfx by Mr. X and Creature Effects) settled for the sixth spot with $6.3M and $64.3M. Seventh place went to New Lines WEDDING CRASHERS, which collected $5.8M for a cume of $195.8M. Warner Independent Pictures MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, the high-flying doc, came in eighth with $5.5M for a total of $63.5M. Universals THE SKELETON KEY (with vfx from Rhythm + Hues) occupied ninth place with $4M and a cume of $43.7M. The 10th place finisher was Screen Gems THE CAVE (with vfx by Patrick Tatopoulos Design Inc., Luma Pictures and Fantasy II Film Effects), with $3.7M and a two-week cume of $11.7M.
Hayao Miyazakis HOWLS MOVING CASTLE collected another $18, 211 for a cume of $4.6M for Buena Vista (with Pixars Pete Docter and Disneys Rick Dempsey overseeing the American version). It still ranks seventh on the all-time list of anime titles. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.