Former Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell proved his success in The 40 Year-Old Virgin was no fluke as his latest star vehicle, Evan Almighty, opened at No. 1 with an estimated $35 million over the weekend. Meanwhile, the John Cusack spooker 1408 cashed in on good reviews and scared up around $20.17 million to pull a surprise upset over Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The superhero sequel slipped to No. 3 in its second week with a steep 65% drop off in attendance.
Featuring character animation and a host of other visual effects by Rhythm & Hues, ILM, CafeFX, CIS Hollywood and TeamWorks Digital, Evan Almighty opened to unenthusiastic reviews but benefited from a robust marketing push and a 3,600-theater roll-out. However, the sequel to the 2003 Jim Carey comedy came nowhere close to matching the stellar $67.9 million opening of its predecessor, which went on to make $484 million worldwide.
MGM/The Weinstein Co.’ 1408 scored the biggest opening ever for a Stephen King adaptation. The critically panned Dreamcatcher opened to $15 million in May of 2003, but few films released with King’s name attached have grossed more than $30 million during their initial domestic runs. If the momentum behind this latest flick continues to build, King’s library could again become a hot commodity in Hollywood. Director Frank Darabont (The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption) has again turned to the novelist’s material and is shooting Mist, which The Weinstein Co. will release later this year or sometime in 2008. Other King adaptations in the works include Warner Bros.’ Creepshow remake (2008) and DreamWorks Television miniseries The Talisman, which will air on TNT in 2008.
Vfx houses The Motion Picture Co., Rainmaker, Framestore CFC, Baseblack and The Senate VFX collaborated on 1408, which managed a narrow victory over 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four sequel. Rise of the Silver Surfer earned an estimated $20.15 million to bring its domestic cume to approximately $97.6 million. To date, the Marvel Comics adaptation has earned more than $125 million worldwide.
Warner Bros.’ Ocean’s Thirteen finished in fourth place, adding another $11 million to bring its three-week total to about $91 million. Meanwhile, Universal’s relationship comedy Knocked Up finished out the top five in style by crossing the $100 million. The film earned about $10.4 million in its fourth week.
Sony’s animated Surf’s Up pulled in an estimated $6.7 million to sit at No. 7 in week three, just ahead of DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek the Third. The third ogre adventure has grossed approximately $307 million domestically and $416 million worldwide. This coming weekend sees the release of another animated contender, Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille, which has been receiving rave reviews across the board and promises to be one of the season’s biggest hits.
