..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

Ring A Ding Ding ... Fox's Phone Booth had just enough cel power to call in an estimated $15.1 million and lead the weekend box office. But getting connected to mass audiences has been elusive for new movies during the past month and that's been amply reflected in declining audiences caught between Iraq and a stadium seating place. The weekend featured four freshmen entries that all debuted to tepid to poor business and few holdover movies that could be characterized as having unusual stamina. Overall business should generate roughly $98 million a 3% sliver down from one week ago. It's also the third consecutive weekend of double-digit drops from 2002 (down 11%) when the second weekend of Panic Room led the pack followed by a $14 million bow for High Crimes. Phone Booth - on hold for close to a year - has the sort of tenable thrill premise one expects will attract an opening weekend crowd and did, relative to the current depressed movie going state. It's also likely to experience the steep second weekend declines seen throughout the season and evidenced by the most recent sophomore sessions of The Core and Basic. The second and third slots also featured unremarkable results for debuting movies. Warner Bros. female empowerment What a Girl Wants was slightly more muscular on gross but evinced more cellulite based on theater average to the Vin Diesel vehicle A Man Apart. Unlike the weekend leader, the trailing pair attempted to sell name recognition rather than substance and both came up with little more than ether. Considerably thinner was Miramax's Eddie Griffin comedy Dysfunktional Family which limped into the marketplace with $1.1 million and an $1,800 average. The good news on the horizon would appear to be the opening of Anger Management with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson which is generating tracking response that seems likely to render more than a $40 million initial weekend. While it's a much needed shot in the arm for theater owners, one film cannot carry the burden of reviving the film going habit. Niche and alternative product haven't been as hard hit by audience apathy but, then again, viewer choices are considerably more variegated and superior in quality to the mainstream fare. The Oscar ride has been exceptionally good for both The Pianist and Nowhere in Africa and the slow expansion of Bend It Like Beckham has effectively capitalized on positive word-of-mouth as it penetrates across the country. The new entries demonstrate the spectrum of options from IDP's Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop that generated $230,000 from 19 screens to Fox Searchlight/Alliance's noirish The Good Thief with a $130,000 swag at 9 locations and a $22,000 gross for Sony Classics' droll Finnish Man Without a Past from two theaters. Still, not everything is working. Focus' The Guys centering on a fireman and a reporter in post-9/11 Manhattan barely generated a $1,000 average from 15 engagements and Warner Bros. second test run of The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was so mirthless the company chose not to report its box office. Similarly, Sony Classic's ensemble comedy Levity failed to lift spirits with a $31,000 launch from 10 venues. Email Leonard Klady