For the third weekend in a row, LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, with visual effects by Weta Digital, ruled the box office, earning a lordly $25M for a three week cume of $261M. So far, the second installment in the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy has earned 26% more over a comparable period of time than its 2001 predecessor, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. This bodes well for the final act, THE RETURN OF THE KING, which will bow in theaters December 2004. Holding on to second place was CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, with visual effects by Asylum and a stunning animated opening sequence by Nexus Prods. The quirky caper earned $21.1M in its second weekend for a total of $97.4M. THE WILD THORNBERRYS MOVIE dropped off just 25% in its third weekend, earning $5.4M to stay in seventh place. The film has so far grossed $31.5M, which is about what it cost to make this Klasky-Csupo animated production. Rounding out the top ten was HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, which earned $4.6M for $252M to date. Although the fantasy film, with visual effects by ILM, is slowing down at the U.S. box office, it has grossed nearly $519 million in international ticket sales for a worldwide cume of $771M. A Disney classic managed to top the studio's most recent film, as recently released IMAX version of THE LION KING landed in 16th place and TREASURE PLANET barely made it into 17th. THE LION KING earned $1.4M on just 66 screens for a two-week total of $5.9M, while TREASURE PLANET floundered on over 1,500 screens, digging up just $1.1M for $35.8M to date. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
