Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the main character in the movie 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'. - CONTRIBUTED
LOS ANGELES (AP):
THE THIRD weekend was still a charm for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which remained the top movie with US$20.45 million.
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 US$13.1 million, according to studio estimates yesterday.
With Aeon Flux the only notable new wide release, the remainder of the top 10 was filled out with holdover flicks, led by 20th Century Fox's Johnny Cash chronicle Walk the Line, the number three movie with US$10 million.
It was a quiet weekend at theatres compared to the busy Thanksgiving period. The top 12 movies took in US$79 million, virtually the same as the corresponding weekend a year ago.
A PROLONGED SLUMP
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 US$229.8 million. World-wide, the latest adventure of boy wizard Harry has taken in US$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 US$60 million to make, and it was uncertain if box office combined with DVD and television rentals will recoup that investment.
AEON'S PLIGHT
Still, the movie'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 Paramount did not screen Aeon Flux for reviewers probably did not affect the outcome, he said.
"The audience was young males and they don't really respond to reviews, anyway," Lewellen said.
In limited release, the road-trip tale Transamerica opened strongly with US$45,269 in two theatres, averaging US$22,635 a cinema. By comparison, Aeon Flux averaged $5,023 in 2,608 theatres.
BOX OFFICE TOP 10
1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire US$20.45 million
2. Aeon Flux US$13.1 million
3. Walk the Line US$10 million
4. Yours, Mine & Ours US$8.4 million
5. Just Friends US$5.9 million
6. Pride & Prejudice US$4.62 million
7. Rent US$4.6 million
8. Chicken Little US$4.5 million
9. Derailed US$2.4 million
10. In the Mix US$1.9 million.
