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

Is That a Bushido Blade in Your Pocket … ? The Last Samurai cut a neat swath estimated at $23.9 million to claim the weekend box office crown. It wasn't quite the potent entry expected within the industry, whether one factored in Eastern seaboard snowstorms or not. Still, it was a record bow for a post-Thanksgiving/early December that traditionally is among the handful of worst business weekends of the year. The frame also saw the national bow of Honey to an excellent result of $14.4 million to rank second overall, and a couple of specialized debuts. However, the post-holiday box office blahs are one tough tradition to break. Current and past efforts to prop up the DMZ between Thanksgiving and Christmas have never produced a type of commercial breakout that would encourage situating vaunted movies early in the month. Superficially, the period epic Last Samurai shaped up as a film with the potential to open to more than $30 million. It has size, action and a film star with close to a pristine commercial record. However, early previews and tracking surveys indicated that neither the response nor the anticipation was anywhere close to blockbuster level. Warner Bros. decided to do national sneak previews to bolster interest and appeared to have successfully set in motion very positive word-of-mouth. It's difficult to precisely pinpoint the resistance to the Tom Cruise vehicle, but there is a knee-jerk negative response among core viewers to period pieces and the actor's distaff fans were wary of the film's quotient of violence. Add to that inclement weather that likely translated into $2 million to $3 million in lost revenue and the likely result is that a concerted effort will be necessary to push the film to a $100 million domestic gross. Honey, the latest feel good female empowerment yarn, had more modest and successful aspirations. It targeted a specific, currently under served, audience and rang up impressive business. The gross of the Universal release, along with Cat in the Hat and Love Actually propelled the studio to 2003 revenues of more than $1 billion on Saturday. Universal is the fourth studio to record 10-figure domestic theatrical revenues this year and it's the first time that many majors have reached that vaunted level. Weekend business experienced a sharp 40% drop from Thanksgiving and should wind up with a record first weekend December tally of roughly $98 million. It's a 15% improvement on 2002 when the third weekend of Die Another Day led the field with a $12.8 box office and the top freshmen were Analyze That with $11 million and $6.3 million for fourth ranked Empire. Virtually all holdover titles experienced box office erosion of between 60% and 70%. The comparative bright spot was Bad Santa with a 44% drop that placed it sixth overall and positioned the mean-spirited, profane and disarmingly comic tale as the alternative viewing choice at the multiplex. Saturday sneak previews of the adult comedy Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson were "excellent" in every way according to a Sony rep. The sneaks drew an 80% plus overall capacity and a predominantly 25 and older audience that gave a two thumbs verdict regardless of gender. Paving the way for the final installment of The Lord of the Rings, New Line unfurled the expanded first episode for a locked week run in 126 theaters and a not too shabby $430,000 weekend. Sony Classics' Oscar qualifying run of Monsieur Ibrahim with Omar Sharif was just fair with a $13,100 gross from two venues. Screen My Calls … and Videos U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey's decision in favor of the plaintiffs against the Motion Picture Association of America screener embargo may well be the hollowest of victories for the so-called independent movement. For starters MPAA president Jack Valenti has stated that the organization will appeal the decision and that's resulted in a state of stasis at several of the majors. Officers of the Los Angeles Film Critics, attempting to find out whether they would receive screeners as a result of the decision, were largely met with "discussions are taking place" responses and call back on Monday. Anecdote and rumor were the order of the day. Reports of deliveries to members of several critics groups of films handled by Sony Classics and Focus were reported. The indication was that a number of distributors were in the process of having encoded VHS tapes produced and that members of the Hollywood Foreign Press would be given top priority as the copies rolled off the assembly line. There were also unsubstantiated tales of the majors preparing deliveries of high profile titles as a defense against the animus that's grown since the September 30 edict. And that several specialized divisions eager to have videos of their award worthy movies have been told from the highest levels to curb their enthusiasm at least for the moment. The screener ban may have begun as an easy means of swatting a fly but can now be classified as an epic saga that easily surpasses the entire Rings trilogy in length, complexity and hideous characters. Regardless of outcome, a couple of things have emerged as inarguable. Heading the list is something that can only be described as a crisis in management. The people with supreme authority are exerting it often without consultation and the resulting acrimony doesn't paint a particularly harmonious picture of life in a time of media giants. There are even tales of division among the member reps of the MPAA and its clear several consider this method of combating piracy to be ultimately more detrimental than beneficial to the way business is conducted in Hollywood. It can also be argued that the preservation and health of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been given a priority status. The MPAA concession to the Academy may have initially been perceived as a means of resolving a sticky situation. However, it evolved into quite a different scenario when groups and organizations stepped up ready to make comparable arrangements and found themselves ultimately rebuffed on the most spurious of reasons. Again, the MPAA proved itself tactically inept. The area where the MPAA has been successful, albeit unintentionally, is in the creation of an elaborate smoke screen. Lost in the sturm und drang of the screener debate is the fact that there is little on a quality level worth this sort of fight. The individual titles potentially most vulnerable to piracy are not likely to be among the most honored movies of 2003. Granted, the studios can ill afford to send out that signal by absenting them from "for your consideration" mailings. So, limiting their exposure or creating an environment in which decisions can be made on an emotional and possibly irrational basis may indeed serve the best interests of the film industry. - by Leonard Klady