In the absence of any viable challengers, "Meet the Fockers" continued its dominance at the box office for the second week in a row with an estimated weekend take of $42.8M. This Ben Stiller comedy also set the record of having the biggest New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day gross, beating previous record holders "Cast Away" and "Return of the King" at $12.2M and $18.0M, respectively. Jim Carrey’s "Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events" saw a rise in audience attendance from last weekend to come in second at $14.7M. "The Aviator," Martin Scorsese’s biopic about eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, saw a 30% rise from the previous weekend to come in third at $11.2M. "Fat Albert" dropped to fourth at $10.7M, and "Ocean’s Twelve" continued its roll at fifth, with an estimated take of $9.2M.
Box Office Estimates for Weekend of Dec. 31 2004 – Jan. 2, 2005
1. Meet The Fockers $42.8
2. Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events $14.7
3. The Aviator $11.2
4. Fat Albert $10.7
5. Ocean’s Twelve $9.2
6. National Treasure $7.0
7. Spanglish $6.3
8. The Polar Express $5.7
9. Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera $4.8
10. Darkness $4.5
11. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou $4.3
12. The Incredibles $4.0
