Screen Gems UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION (with Luma Pictures as the leading vfx house) led the box office with $26.8M in its opening bow for the weekend ended Jan. 22, 2006. HOODWINKED, the hot 3D-animated indie from The Weinstein Co., followed in second place with $10.4M and a two-week cume of $28.6M. Buena Vistas GLORY ROAD slipped from first to third with $8.76M and $27.7M. Paramounts LAST HOLIDAY was right behind in fourth with $8.71M and $25.9M. Focus Features Oscar favorite, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (with vfx from Buzz Image Group) climbed to fifth with $7.4M and a cume of $41.7M. Still growing strong in sixth with $6.2M and a whopping $271.8M was Buena Vistas THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (with impressive vfx from Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and ILM). Seventh belonged to Sonys FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, which captured $5.7M and a cume of $101.3M. Bowing in eighth with $4.2M Rocky Mountains END OF THE SPEAR. Lionsgates HOSTEL (with vfx from Precinct 13 Ent.) came in ninth with $4.2M and $42.6M. And Universals KING KONG (with impressive vfx from Weta Digital) finished 10th with $4.2M and a cume of $209.8M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
