Cinefantastique Online

Genre films were shut out of the win, place, and show positions at the box office this weekend, despite the debut on 2,275 screens of DRAGON WARS. THE BRAVE ONE – a new action pic starring Jodi Foster – was #1 at the box office; 3:10 TO YUMA arrived in second, and MR. WOODCOCK wedged into third.

Although DRAGON WARS had set box office records in its native Korea, the film earned an unimpressive $5.38-million, surely less than distributor FreeStyle Releasing was hoping for. Yet company co-president Mark Borde tried to put a happy spin on the numbers: “We are very pleased with the opening and look forward to a long and healthy run,” he said.

The only other genre film in the U.S. Top Ten was Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN remake, which slipped from second to sixth place in its third weekend of release. The film earned an additional $5.01-million, raising its total to $51.26-million.

Overseas results were little more impressive for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror films. THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM seems to be knocking everything else off the charts, leaving little room for genre films to flower. Still, a few titles showed some signs of life.

The animated comedy THE SIMPSONS MOVIE was second overall behind BOURNE, amassing $10.5-million on approximately 3,000 screens in foreign markets, raising its overseas total to a whopping $321-million.

Disney’s RATATOUILLE scampered into third with $5.5-million in 3,092 screens spread out over 34 territories.

SHREK THE THIRD was in fourth with $5.3.-million on 1,700 screens in 64 markets.

The psycho-killer thriller DISTURBIA grossed an estimated $1.4-million on durings debut on 405 screens in the U.K.

So far, the big winners in foreign markets are EVAN ALMIGHTY with $54.2-million, TRANSFORMERS with $381-million, and HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX with $639-million. Unfortunately, the whimsically wonderful STARDUST did little better overseas than in the U.S., earing a total of $17.4-million.

Read the complete U.S. Top Ten here. Read foreign box office figures here.