Universal’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army earned an estimated $35.8 million to lead a somewhat week post-holiday weekend at the North American box office. Director Guillermo del Toro’s sequel opened better than its predecessor, which debuted to $23 million in April of 2004 on its way to $99 million worldwide. Cable and DVD screenings of the original, plus del Toro’s more mainstream success with Pan’s Labyrinth, should make this installment more profitable.
Hellboy is based on the Dark Horse comic-book series created by Mike Mignola. Though expanded by the first movie, the property’s following is still fairly cult, suggesting that most moviegoers turned out for some crazy summer action and big-budget visual effects by Double Negative, Hatch FX, Baseblack, The Senate VFX, LipSync Post and Cinesite.
Not based on a comic book, the Sony superhero blockbuster Hancock brought in another $33 million over the weekend, slipping to the No. 2 spot in its second week. To date, the Will Smith vehicle has grossed approximately $165 million domestically and roughly $345 million worldwide. Sony Pictures Imageworks handled most of the film’s vfx work.
New Line Cinema’s 3-D adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth debuted at No. 3 domestically with about $20.5 million. Starring Brendan Fraser, the movie was shot mostly using green-screen technology with CG animation and other visual effects added in later by Mokko Studio, Frantic Films, Hybride, Meteor Studios, Rodeo FX and Amalgamated Pixels.
Occupying the No. 4 spot, Disney Pixar’s WALL’E earned a respectable $18.5 million in its third week, bringing its worldwide total to about $166 million. The movie has yet to open in most foreign markets, where ticket sales are bound to be brisk. Overseas returns are likely to eclipse the pic’s draw in North America, where it has earned an estimated $162.7 to date.
Universal’s adaptation of the Top Cow action comic book Wanted rounds out the weekend’s top five with an extimated $11.5 million for the weekend and a domestic cume of roughly $112 million. Worldwide has hit close to $175 million. Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox’s Eddie Murphy sci-fi comedy, Meet Dave, didn’t even make the top five in its debut weekend. The $60 million flop took in just $5.3 million in North America for a seventh place finish. DreamWorks Animatioin/Paramount’s Kung Fu Panda continued to kick the competition by taking in $4.3 million over the weekend, pushing its domestic cume to a very impressive $202 million and international b.o. to over $356 million.
