After early estimates put the weekend box office take for Tim Burton's Big Fish at $14.5 million, the final number came in at $13.8 million, behind Peter Jackson's Return of the King, which generated an estimated $14.2 million.  Return of the King has now held on to the top spot on the box office chart for 3 weeks, better than the two week stand Two Towers did last year (The Fellowship of the Ring demonstrated more 'legs' by holding on through week four two years ago).  The Return of the King ran its cumulative total to $312, 237,00.  It will need solid performances in the next few weeks or an Oscar bump to overtake Finding Nemo ($331 million).

 

Meanwhile pop culture retailers should be happy about the success of Tim Burton's Big Fish, despite its second place finish.  Burton has an iconoclastic vision, which resonates with a large audience and which can be turned into tangible goods.  Currently Burton has a bizarre and wonderful series of toys available from Dark Horse; he produced Nightmare Before Christmas, which spawned a treasure trove of collectables; and he directed the 1989 Batman film, which produced the greatest merchandise stream of all time.