The Road To El Dorado Leads To #2

With live-action film ERIN BROCKOVICH firmly planted at #1, DreamWorks' THE ROAD TO EL DORADO ended up finishing in second place at the U.S. box office. The newest toon featuring Elton John songs grossed US$12.85 million. The special effects enhanced action flick, ROMEO MUST DIE, slipped to #4. The Jet Li film, with primary special effects by Manex Visual Effects, brought home $9.38 million bringing its cume to $38.8 million. Coming off its best picture win at the Oscars, AMERICAN BEAUTY finished in 6th place grossing another $5.41 million, raising its cume to $116.7 million. The teen terror pic, FINAL DESTINATION, nose dived to #7, grossing $5.36 million, floating its total take to $28.3 million. MISSION TO MARS, with primary special effects by ILM and Dream Quest Images, sinks four places to finish at #8. The Buena Vista release grossed another $3.32 million, bringing its cume to $54.5 million. The Imax epic FANTASIA/2000 finished the weekend at #14 making $1.26 million and bringing its cume to $38.1 million. Now the tenth highest grossing film in U.S. history, THE SIXTH SENSE finished this past weekend at #17 grossing $900,000. The Buena Vista film, with visual effects by DreamQuest, has made a grand total of $291.7 million. Other special effects laden or animation films finishing in the top thirty were: THE NINTH GATE at #18, with a gross of $800,000 and a cume of $17.2 million; THE TIGGER MOVIE at #19, with a gross of $390,000 and a cume of $43.8 million; SNOW DAY at #20, with a gross of $380,000 and a cume of $58.6 million; THE GREEN MILE at #21, with a gross of $320,000 and a cume of $135.5 million; STUART LITTLE at #22, with a gross of $310,000 and a cume of $139.2 million; TOY STORY 2 at #23, with a gross of $260,000 and a cume of $242.6 million; PITCH BLACK at #25, with a gross of $260,000 and a cume of $38.1 million; and SLEEPY HOLLOW at #30, with a gross of $170,000 and a cume of $100.6 million. Box office reports obtained on Lyco's ShowBIZ data base.

Read more about the production of THE ROAD TO EL DORADO in J. Paul Peszko's Animation World Magazine article.