Boy wizard still ruling at the box office
LOS ANGELES—
The third weekend was still a charm for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which remained the top movie with $ 20.45 million ( all figures in U. S. dollars) at the box office.
Charlize Theron’s sci-fi tale Aeon Flux,
a movie apparently so bad distributor Paramount did not screen it beforehand for critics, still managed to debut in second place with $ 13.1 million. With Aeon Flux the only notable new wide release in U. S. theatres, the remainder of the top 10 was filled out with holdover flicks, led by the Johnny Cash chronicle Walk the Line, the No. 3movie with $ 10 million. Hollywood is in the midst of a prolonged slump, with attendance down 8 per cent compared to 2004, though studios are preparing for a brisk December with such films as King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Producers and Steven Spielberg’s Munich. Warner Bros. lifted its domestic total for Harry Potter to $ 229.8 million. Worldwide, the latest adventure of boy wizard Harry has taken in $560 million.
“ Harry Potter is clearly dominating the business,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box- office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
‘‘ It’s the movie that everybody hoped it would be. The box- office performance is living up to, and maybe at this point, exceeding expectations.’’ Aeon Flux
stars Theron in an action adventure based on the 1990s animated series about a rogue anti- hero battling a government leader in a post- apocalyptic world. The movie cost $60 million to make, and it was uncertain if box office combined with DVD and television rentals will recoup that investment.
Still, Aeon Flux’s opening weekend came in at the high end of Paramount’s expectations, said Wayne Lewellen, the studio’s head of distribution. The fact that the studio did not screen Aeon Flux for reviewers probably did not affect weekend box office, said Lewellen.
“ The audience was young males and they don’t really respond to reviews, anyway,” Lewellen said.
Yours, Mine & Ours
came fourth with $8.4 million, followed by Just Friends with $ 5.9 million and Pride & Prejudice with $ 4.62 million.
Rent brought in $ 4.6 million.