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

Ardor Dominates With Newcomers Peeking Over the Sill The juggernaut that is The Passion of The Christ continued apace as it once again ascended to the top of the weekend box office with an estimated $33.1 million. The frame also boasted a solid debut for the psychological thriller Secret Window and disappointing results for the second installment of the Cody Banks series. The continued strength of The Passion once again translated in a box office boost from 2003. It now appears that the film will experience 35% to 40% weekly drops with an anticipated bump around Easter. However, there's no immediate indication that it will heal undue heat from competing films in the marketplace and that should result in a final domestic tally of more than $350 million. In hindsight the two unseen factors in the picture's success have been its ability to draw in untraditional and infrequent film goers and the degree to which its been able to spark repeat business. Though the exact composition of its repeaters hasn't been fully identified, the echo audience appears to be composed of both the usual suspects as well as an older crowd. Incoming action was spearheaded by Secret Window, a familiar Stephen King yarn headlining Johnny Depp that opened to roughly $18.6 million to rank second overall. Though largely pilloried critically, the film bowed to pretty much anticipated business. The same could not be said of Cody Banks: Destination London that was eyeing $10 million but grossed just shy of $8 million to slot fifth in the lineup. The first Cody with Frankie Munoz opened one year ago to $14.1 million and trailed the second weekend of Bringing Down the House at $22 million and was just ahead of the $13.5 million bow of The Hunted. The current weekend is headed toward about $115 million for a 12% improvement on 2003 and a decline of 18% from seven days earlier. The other big news of the weekend was Warner Bros.' bow of Nascar: The Imax Experience that rallied an estimated $1.5 million from 68 engagements. It marked the biggest opening - literally and figuratively - for an original Imax production in both box office and in the number of theaters. Since the studio bowed Matrix Revolutions day-and-date, it's quickly moved into an on-going commitment to large screen ventures with upcoming dates for such conventional releases and the third Harry Potter and Catwoman. The WB had less stellar returns for its launch of the David Mamet thriller Spartan that grossed an estimated $1.9 million from a medium wide release in 832 theaters. Not unexpectedly the film fared best in urban markets where critical response tended to be more positive. The studio also sneaked its grisly thriller Taking Lives over the weekend to generally good response and got a better than usual distaff response to the vehicle starring Angelina Jolie. Once again specialized film debuts were light, limited and unspectacular. The Israeli drama Broken Wings opened in five locations to about $23,000 while the Turkish, Cannes-prized Distant grossed $12,000 at two Manhattan venues. Thinkfilm also had a two screen bow for its Scottish oddball comedy-drama Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself that generated about $13,000. Second weekend business on both Starsky & Hutch and Hidalgo also held reasonable well ranking third and fourth on the roster with respective box office of $16.2 million and $11.8 million. And the last films standing from the Oscar race - The Return of the King, Monster, Mystic River - shifted into final theatrical phase with erosions of roughly one-third following respective award bumps following the broadcast. - by Leonard Klady