Category: Films

TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES may have won the Independence holiday box office race for Warner Bros., taking in $44M for the weekend and $72.3M for the five-day period (bolstered by the combined VFX of Industrial Light + Magic, Anatomorphex, Pacific Data Images, Pacific Titles & Optical and Stan Winston Studio), but the big story was FINDING NEMO.

STAR WARS EPISODE III, the last of the prequels to the legendary George Lucas franchise, began shooting at Fox Studios Australia, June 30, 2003. According to Starwars.com, the first scenes were shot in a new set environment with returning stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) and Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi). Also on set was R2-D2. The final installment will see Peter Mayhew reprise his role as Chewbacca, a part he has not played since THE RETURN OF THE JEDI in 1983.

Sony's CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE (with Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Orphanage supplying the bulk of the VFX) may have won the box office derby, but its $37.6M was less than spectacular. So far, the 2003 summer box office is 2% less than last year's. Universal's THE HULK, meanwhile, plunged nearly 70% in its second weekend, adding $18.8M, still good enough for second place. The ILM VFX feast has earned $100.5M thus far.

As part of its continuing theatrical expansion in Europe, IMAX. will open a new IMAX 3D theater at Disneyland Resort Paris in June 2004, joining 46 similar theaters currently scheduled to launch throughout Europe at that time. The expansion is via a partnership with Disney as well as EuroPalaces, one of the largest commercial exhibitors in Europe.

THE HULK came out slugging last weekend with the highest June opener ever at $62.1M, despite mixed reviews about the content of Ang Lee's heady adaptation of the Marvel comic and ILM's execution of the CG monster. Universal's latest entry in the comic book genre overtook AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME for the best June debut, and tied MONSTERS, INC. as the 17th best opener of all time. It also marks the seventh consecutive straight number one opening for Marvel. THE HULK comes in third right behind SPIDER-MAN'S $114.8M opening and X2: X-MEN UNITED's $85.6M last month.

It only took Disney/Pixar's FINDING NEMO 20 days to hit the $200 million mark at the box office, which it did Wednesday, June 18, 2003, placing it number 10 on the all-time list. So far, the latest computer-animated blockbuster from the Emeryville, California studio has amassed $203,263,253 in North American theaters. That's good enough for fourth on the list of computer-animated box office champs. DreamWorks/PDI's SHREK is first with $267, 665,011; Disney/Pixar's MONSTERS, INC. is second with $255,873,250 and Disney/Pixar's TOY STORY 2 is third with $245,852,179.

Universal Pictures' HULK opens June 20, 2003, offering a more heady take on the comic book genre, given director Ang Lee's interest in martial arts and existentialism (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON).

Freely adapted from the '60s Marvel comic book by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, which was also a hit TV series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, HULK features not one but two Oedipal plot lines. Eric Bana (BLACK HAWK DOWN) co-stars with last year's Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly (A BEAUTIFUL MIND). Sam Elliott and Nick Nolte play the troublesome dads.

FINDING NEMO, the Disney/Pixar computer-animated smash, was back atop the box office chart, reeling in $28.3M in its third week. That puts it near the $200M plateau with $191.4M. The other animated opener, Paramount/Nickelodeon/Klasky Csupo's RUGRATS GO WILD, made an impressive debut in the fourth spot with $11.5M.

The Rugrats meet The Thornberrys and get into all kinds of island mischief on the big screen in RUGRATS GO WILD, opening nationwide June 13, 2003. Produced by Klasky Csupo, Nickelodeon Pictures and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the movie marks the fourth theatrical feature from Klasky based on its smash Nick TV series, RUGRATS and WILD THORNBERRYS.

John Eng (sequence director on RUGRATS IN PARIS and JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS) and Norton Virgien (director of THE RUGRATS MOVIE) co-direct from Kate Boutilier's script.

Young males got their movie thrills last weekend with the opening of Universal's FAST AND FURIOUS sequel, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, which revved up the box office chart with $50.5M. Crystal Dowd served as VFX producer and Collin Fowler was VFX coordinator for Illusion Arts.

FINDING NEMO, meanwhile, slipped to second place after its record-breaking opening with a very impressive $46.6M, giving the Disney/Pixar hit $144M in less than two weeks.

In its continuing effort to embrace more commercial event films (with the cooperation of the CAA talent agency), IMAX will release Warner Bros.' THE MATRIX RELOADED in select theaters on Friday, June 6, 2003, and, for the first time, in various international venues through early July (including the U.K., Germany, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Japan). The timing couldn't be better, as the second mind-bending film in the Wachowski Brothers' trilogy recently set a new international box office record in its opening weekend (more than $113M).