The first feature length film featuring Nick Park's claymation creations Wallace & Gromit topped the Columbus Day weekend box office with an estimated total of $16.1 million.  Wallace & Gromit: Revenge of the Were-Rabbit has received stellar reviews from the critics and audiences loved it too with 85% rating the film 'good' or 'excellent.'  Families made up 68% of the weekend Wallace & Gromit audience and with a dearth of family-oriented films opening during October, the claymation epic should remain strong for at least the next three weeks, even though the per theater average for its opening weekend was a fairly pedestrian $4,417.  The potential staying power of Wallace & Gromit is good news for retailers since there is considerable tie-in merchandise available including figures from McFarlane Toys, The Art of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit from Titan Books, and several W&G volumes from Penguin, Overall the weekend box office for the fortieth week of 2005 was well below the corresponding week in 2004.

David Cronenberg's A History of Violence, which is based on the DC graphic novel written by John Wagner, declined only 37%, earning an estimated $5.1 million with a strong per screen average of $3,824.  In its fourth week Tim Burton's Corpse Bride slipped only 34% while earning an estimated $6.5 million and bringing its cumulative to $42 million.

However Joss Whedon's Serenity declined by 51% in its second weekend, earning an estimated $4.9 million and bringing its total to $17.6 million.  Serenity, which cost $39 million to make, will likely finish well south of $30 million domestically, but should eventually make money thanks to a combination of foreign box office and home video sales.