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

Shaggy - Dog Saga Audiences flocked to the animal shelter as Scooby-Doo 2: Monster's Unleashed barked up an estimated $30.3 million to claim top dog spot in weekend movie going. Three other films bowed (and not wowed) nationally, generating strong overall business on par with recent weeks and surpassing last year's torpid results. The animated hound yelped to a new March record for Warner Bros. and secured a likely green light for a third outing. The original bowed in the more lucrative summer of 2002 to $54 million and an eventual domestic gross of better than $150 million plus $120 million overseas and bountiful ancillary revenues. "The 'Doo' is definitely doo-ing it," proclaimed Warner's distribution chief Dan Fellman. "It should definitely play well into the summer and continue to be a very healthy franchise." The Ladykillers, based on the 1950s Brit comedy classic, secured second spot with close to $13 million and a solid $8,100 theater average. Though dismissed by many major critics, the presence of Tom Hanks and the cult appeal of the Coen Brothers was enough to provide an opening burst of interest for the film. To a lesser degree that also applied to the launch of Jersey Girl and the team of filmmaker Kevin Smith and actor Ben Affleck. It ranked fifth with an $8.5 million gross and a passable $5,600 average. Overall business should tally to roughly $120 million for the frame for a carbon copy performance of last weekend and surpassing 2003's result by 16%. A year ago a trio of freshmen movies battled for the top with Head of State nosing out The Core and Basic with $13.5 million to their respective box offices of $12 million and $11.5 million. The other big shocker was Newmarket's ascendancy at the top of the market share rankings as it surpassed Sony's year to date on Friday. It was an unprecedented achievement for an independent distributor. The company's Bob Berney noted that the reign will likely end next weekend with Sony's launch of Hellboy but hopes the achievement registers as more than just big numbers. "I like to believe that it will mark a change in attitude toward independents from exhibitors," said Berney. "It's not simply a situation where having films people wanted to see translated into box office. We demonstrated that we could promote and physically manage The Passion and Monster as well as the majors and have to be viewed as a viable alternative." The Passion of The Christ added another $12 million to its coffers and ranked third for the weekend. It's expected to continue strong during Easter and exceed $400 million domestically and will likely become the 10th biggest grossing movie of all-time next weekend. The film opened in England Friday (after an uncharacteristically soft Irish debut) and is expected to gross close to $3 million from about 350 venues and is neck and neck for first place with Starsky & Hutch. Second weekend results in Mexico and Germany were also very good with the film slipping by about 35% and 30% in those respective countries. Dawn of the Dead experienced the big hit of the weekend as its gross sank some 60% to $10.5 million while the sophomore session of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind declined 37% to $5.2 million. Further down the chart in 11th position, the action programmer Never Die Alone debuted to $2.9 million and, anyway one spells it, DMX is on the fast track to DVD. Specialized fare continues to dribble into the marketplace with the controversial Cannes-preemed Dogme-produced Dogville finding warm initial response as it dipped its toes into nine theaters for an opening salvo of roughly $90,000. The documentary The Mayor of the Sunset Strip generated an OK $23,000 from seven sites but the saga of Australian bandit Ned Kelly fired mostly blanks with a $46,600 gross from 22 theaters. The remake of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead rose to the top of weekend movie going with an estimated $28.2 million usurping the prior three week champion The Passion of The Christ . Another freshman outing - Taking Lives - ranked third with an $11.5 million tally and all three pictures shared the common theme of characters resurrected from the dead and an R-rating from the Classification and Ratings Administration. As with last year's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the current Dawn of the Dead underlined the old adage about not being able to keep a good zombie or ghoul down. The relatively modest-budget horror yarn is probably better known in name than actual viewing by the crowds that embraced its opening weekend. A wry mix of black humor and chills tapped into the current zeitgeist and pocketbooks. The Passion of The Christ again saw its box office off by a little more than a third to slip into second spot with about $19.6 million. It was slightly shy of $300 million and should reach that level on its 29th day of release on Wednesday - faster than all but three other movies. Most of the continuing titles in the marketplace experienced drops between 25% and 35% and that's likely to continue through to Easter recess. The exception was Nascar: The Imax Experience that continued to rev up the large screen sector with a downward rattle of less than 10%. The sector has been ready for its close-up for about a decade and though the majors have tested those waters, the present number of worldwide venues financially restrict what can be made in original programming. Specialized openers once again were scant with IFC's Irish gangster import Intermission ringing up about $35,000 from 10 locations. Additionally, there were a couple of single screen bows in Manhattan including a buoyant $26,400 launch of France's Oscar submission Bon Voyage with Isabel Adjani and Gerard Depardieu and Palm's Icelandic Noi, a yarn of a troubled teen, eking out a little more than $4,000. The weekend also saw several films providing a sneak peak including MGM's redo of 1973's vigilante justice classic Walking Tall with The Rock now carrying the big stick. The previews drew well with excellent exit polls but it provided an unexpected glitch in box office tracking that's likely to add as much as $800,000 to the weekend gross of Cody Banks 2. - by Leonard Klady