While Dimension's SCARY MOVIE 3 debuted in the top spot for the pre-Halloween weekend ended Oct. 26, 2003, scaring up $48.1M, the real story was Disney's BROTHER BEAR platforming in two theaters in Los Angeles and New York. The studio's second to last traditionally animated feature for the foreseeable future growled its way to $291,940, for an astounding per-screen average of $145,970. BROTHER BEAR should have a more formidable gross when it opens wide next weekend. After that the competition gets pretty stiff the rest of November with the likes of Disney's THE HAUNTED MANSION, Universal's CAT IN THE HAT, Warner Bros.' LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION and New Line's ELF.
Meanwhile, New Line's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake came in second place with $14.4M and a two-week take of $50.9M. Sony's RADIO debuted at number three with $13.3M, Fox's courtroom thriller, RUNAWAY JURY, followed in fourth place with $8.4M and a two-week cume of $24M and Clint Eastwood's MYSTIC RIVER held the fifth spot for Warner Bros with $7.7M and a gross of $24.7M. Paramount's SCHOOL OF ROCK dropped to sixth with $6.5M for a total of $63.3M, Miramax's KILL BILL VOLUME 1 (with vfx by Centro Digital Pictures Ltd. and K.N.B. EFX Group Inc.) continued its slide to number seven with $6.3M for a cume of$54M. MGM's talking dog fest, GOOD BOY! (courtesy of Jim Henson Prods. with vfx from Rainmaker Digital Pictures), collected $5M, good enough for eighth place, and now has $32M to its credit. The Coen Bros.' screwball comedy with George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, netted $3.6M for Universal in its third outing at number nine (with vfx by Rhythm & Hues), giving it $28.2M. Rounding out the top 10 was Disney's romancer, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, which took in $2.2M for a total of $37.2M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
