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

Divide & Conqueror It was a little too close for comfort, but barring blizzards and other natural catastrophes Man on Fire burned just a little bit brighter than 13 Going on 30 in their respective weekend debuts. The films opened to estimates of $22.7 million and $22.1 million and most pundits had the two films within $1 million of each other, though pulling from different viewing pools. It's rare to find a situation in which multiple national openers don't egregiously step on one another's metaphoric toes. Just last week Kill Bill Vol. 2 and The Punisher were blood spattered as they targeted essentially the same core crowd. Man on Fire, a violent saga of vengeance starring Denzel Washington caught the attention of males, African Americans and Hispanics while 13 Going on 30 - a distaff spin on Big headlining Jennifer Garner - skewed female, younger and older and more white bread. Both films bowed to slightly better than anticipated grosses and were the essential difference in a 6% increase from business in 2003. Last year, first place went to the twisty thriller Identity with $16.2 million followed in fifth spot by Confidence with $4.6 million. Two additional films - It Runs in the Family and The Real Cancun - bowed to $2.8 million and $2.1 million. The weekend should generate about $98 million overall (the second sub-$100 million weekend in 2004) for a 7% decline from seven days earlier. The frame also featured a multi-city break for the animated feature Clifford that generated roughly $660,000. The adventures of the cartoon hound have been playing off in test releases in such cities as Seattle and Minneapolis over the past two months that have added about $1.1 million to the coffers. It's primed to bark again shortly on home video. The second weekends of aforementioned Bill 2 and Punisher weren't exactly anemic though both saw their initial furry diminished by more than 50%, supporting the old adage about the bigger they are … However, there are plenty of pictures in the marketplace with comparably steep declines such as The Alamo and The Whole Ten Yards that started out on a significantly lower rung on the box office chart that challenge the observation. In regional launches L'Incomparable Mademoiselle C failed to live up to its title in Quebec. The comedy grossed a disappointing $120,000 from 84 screens. The frame also saw the first venture from Slamdance as a distributor with the quirky Faster going quite well with a $16,000 tally from a single screen. Empire's solo Manhattan engagement on Japanese Oscar short-listed The Twilight Samurai was also OK with a $7,500 box office. Less sturdy were Thinkfilm's documentary The Agronomist with about $28,000 from eight engagements while the indie thriller Close Your Eyes barely blinked with a $21,400 gross from 17 venues. The curiosity of the frame was Korean distributor Cinema Service's decision to four-wall that country's box-office smash Silmido on four Southern California screens. Drawing heavily on the Asian community the Dirty Dozen-like yarn of political assassination averaged an excellent $13,000 theater average. However, it remains unclear whether the company plans to create an on-going program targeted to that niche in much the same way that Hindi-language films have established and once fueled circuits for Mexican and Chinese movies. - by Leonard Klady