Ridley Scott's highly anticipated AMERICAN GANGSTER (with vfx by Gray Matter FX and Invisible Effects) blasted its way to #1 in its debut for the weekend ended Nov. 2, 2007. Universal Pictures reaped an estimated $46.3M. Debuting in second place was Jerry Seinfeld's animated BEE MOVIE, which collected a sweet $39.1M for DreamWorks Animation and Paramount. Meanwhile, last week's winner, SAW IV (with vfx by Switch VFX), dropped to third for Lionsgate with $11M and a two-week cume of $51M. Fourth place belonged to Buena Vista's DAN IN REAL LIFE, which garnered $8.1M for a cume of $22.9M. Following in fifth was Sony's 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (with vfx from Weta Digital), which staked out $4M for a total of $34.2M. Buena Vista's THE GAME PLAN caught sixth place with $3.8M and $81.9M. New Line's MARTIAN CHILD launched in the seventh spot with $3.6M. Warner Bros.' critically praised MICHAEL CLAYTON took eighth with $2.9M and $33.1M. Coming in ninth was Lionsgate's TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED?, which added another $2.7M for a cume of $51.1M. Taking the 10th spot was Miramax's GONE BABY GONE, which took home $2.4M for a total of $14.9M.
Meanwhile, Buena Vista's reissue of TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN DISNEY DIGITAL 3-D (with technical assistance from ILM) added another $1.5M for a total of $12.8M. And the animated version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS delivered another $13,900 to Rocky Mount Pictures for a cume of $924,000. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
