Fox's NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM continued its grip on first place through the four-day New Year's holiday period ended Jan. 1, 2007. With vfx by Rhythm & Hues, Rainmaker, The Orphanage and Weta Digital, among others, NIGHT grossed $49.2M, bringing its two-week total to $127.2M. Holding second was Sony's THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, which collected $25.4M for a three-week cume of $104.5M. Shooting up to third place in wide release was DREAMGIRLS from Paramount/DreamWorks, with $18.3M. The Oscar-contending musical now has $41.3M. Paramount's CHARLOTTE'S WEB (with vfx from Rising Sun Pictures, Rhythm & Hues and Tippett Studio) moved up a notch to fourth place with $14.9M, good enough for $55.8M. Universal's THE GOOD SHEPHERD (with vfx from The Basement, CafeFx, New Deal Studios) dropped a notch to fifth with $14.2M and a cume of $38.3M. MGM's ROCKY BALBOA still had plenty of punch for a sixth place finish with $13.7M and a cume of $51.1M (with vfx from Look Effects). Fox's ERAGON (with vfx from ILM and Weta Digital) settled for seventh with $10.8M and a total of $59M. Warner Bros.' WE ARE MARSHALL slipped to eighth with $10.4M for a two-week cume of $27.4M. Ninth place belonged to Warner Bros.' HAPPY FEET (with first-time animation by Animal Logic), which added $10M to its impressive total of $178.3M. And holding 10th was Sony's THE HOLIDAY with $8.8M and $52.1M.
Meanwhile, the final 2006 top 10 was replete with animated and vfx titles: Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST ruled the year with $423.3M (with vfx from ILM); Disney/Pixar's CARS came in second with $244M; Fox's X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (with vfx from MPC, Cinesite and Weta Digital) followed in third with $234.3M; Sony's THE DA VINCI CODE (with vfx from Double Negative, MPC, Rainmaker, Brainstorm Digital, among others) claimed fourth with $217.5M; Warner Bros.' SUPERMAN RETURNS (with vfx from Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rising Sun Pictures, Rhythm & Hues, Framestore CFC, The Orphanage, among others) flew into fifth with $200M; sixth belonged to Fox/Blue Sky's ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN with $195.3M; HAPPY FEET was the seventh place finisher with $179.6M; Sony's CASINO ROYALE (with vfx from Peerless Camera) took eighth with $155.6M; OVER THE HEDGE from Paramount/DreamWorks followed in ninth with $155M; and Sony's TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALAD OF RICKY BOBBY (with vfx from Digtal Dimension and Zoic) occupied 10th with $148.2M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
