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

A Whole Lotta Love! There was no question about who stole the hearts of movie goers on Valentine's Day as 50 First Dates set a weekend record for a romantic comedy with an estimated $47.2 million for the four-day President's Day holiday frame. The pairing of Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore was clearly seen as a potent prospect with all potential contenders steering clear of the date and giving it a clear path for box office glory as it sailed past the prior $35.6 million standard bearer Sweet Home Alabama (Dates grossed an estimated $41.4 in its first three days of release). While it was good news for the comic romancer, the overall picture was less buoyant. Weekend business will tally to roughly $147 million and that's a decline of 12% from last year when the debut of Daredevil led with $45 million and Disney's bow of The Jungle Book 2 added $14.1 million to the pot. There was considerable brooding among studio reps about the decision not to go up against 50 First Dates in light of the fact that four films will open next weekend and at least two are expected to falter given the quartet have similar appeal and target audiences. One of the studio reps indicated he would have opened his film earlier but the final print was delivered last week. Fox sneaked its comedy Welcome to Mooseport Sunday and estimated the previews drew a fair 60% capacity. Early tracking on Mooseport and Paramount's Against the Ropes is worrisome but interest in both Eurotrip and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen aren't markedly better. The following week sees the arrival of The Passion of the Christ and that film has yet to set screenings for critics and is still unseen in the dozen or so states that have anti-blind bidding laws. The long weekend proved a blessing for hold over titles with Miracle, Catch That Kid and Barbershop 2 staving off sharp declines. However, the biggest beneficiaries of the holiday were the Oscar hopefuls as the telecast approaches on February 29. Return of the King, Cold Mountain, Mystic River and Monster all saw slight increases (on 3-day comparisons) while other contenders experienced only minor erosion. Sony Classics did a major expansion of its animated The Triplets of Belleville but generated disappointing averages as the film has limited appeal to families. In specialized and limited debuts, New Line bowed its oft-delayed Highwaymen primarily in Texas venues to an anemic $140,000 in 111 locations. It's unlikely the film will receive national exposure. The Quebec thriller In the Eye of the Cat (Dans l'oeil du chat) was marginally stronger with about $100,000 from 26 screens while the 16 print launch of Deepa Mehta's The Republic of Love failed to spark in Canada with a gross close to $32,000. IDP's French import La Mentale was another disconnect with just shy of $10,000 from four playdates. The most encouraging of the new limited entries was Monsieur Ibrahim with theater averages of $9,500 from seven engagements. The film had an Oscar qualifying run in December that resulted in a Golden Globe nomination in that group's foreign-language category. - by Leonard Klady