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.
BRUCE ALMIGHTY, the God-induced comedy starring Jim Carrey, dropped to the third spot with $22.3M and a $171.4M total, while Paramount's THE ITALIAN JOB dropped to number four with $13.1M and a cume of $40M. Companies contributing VFX included Flash Film Works, yU + co, Frantic Films, Gray Matter FX and Digital Domain. Warner Bros.' MATRIX RELOADED continues to fall, resting in fifth place with another $9.2M for a total of $247.7M. The visual effects feast included work from Amalgamated Pixels, Animal Logic, BUF, Bullet Time, CIS, CFX, ESC Entertainment, Giant Killer Robots, PLF Sony Pictures Imageworks and Tippett Studio. Sony/Revolutions' DADDY DAY CARE drifted into the sixth slot with $4.6M and an $88.4M take. Fox's X2-XMEN UNITED came in seventh with $3M and crossed an important threshold with $204.2M. Contributing X2 VFX were Cinesite, EYETECH Optics, Frantic Films, Kleiser-Walczak Construction Co. and Rhythm & Hues. Fox/New Regency's WRONG TURN added another $2.6M at number eight for a tally of $9.7M. Warner Bros.' THE IN-LAWS hung in there in ninth place with $2M for a cume of $17.9M. Cinesite handled VFX chores, with Randall Bahnsen serving as 3D motion tracking supervisor. Fox Searchlight's indie hit, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, grabbed the 10 spot with $942,320 and a very nice $20.5M to date. Scott Billups served as VFX supervisor. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
