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

Born to be Mad ... Though tracking was upbeat, no one expected Diary of a Mad Black Woman to top weekend movie going with an estimated $21.2 million gross. In a very close competition with the third weekend of Hitch, the independently produced social comedy starring and conceived by Tyler Perry appeared to have the edge and certainly ranks immediately as one of the season's surprise successes. The span also saw national debuts for the chiller Cursed and the action-comedy Man of the House. Neither film displayed more than passable interest in a frame that should run up a tally of slightly more than $120 million. Black Woman had been generating industry buzz going into the weekend with reports of brisk group sales. Perry's niche following will obviously expand based on the impressive $14,300 theater average. It should also expand the picture's to date dominant Afrocentric and female appeal. Constantine took a hefty 62% plunge to rank third overall with $11.4 million, followed by the two freshmen outings. Neither Cursed nor Man of the House were promoted with much vigor and their respective grosses of $9.4 million and $9 million and mid-$3,000 theater averages indicate short and not terribly fruitful theatrical lives. Overall business abated by about 9% from the prior weekend and 22% from 2004. A year ago The Passion of the Christ arrived with a jaw dropping $83.8 million and the prospect of lightning striking twice wasn't on anyone's weather forecast. And while there's an anticipated further erosion from Sunday's Oscar broadcast, its significance should be less severe based on current films in the marketplace and the films up for honors. The traditional last minute surge and stamina for Oscar contenders was in evidence with such films as Million Dollar Baby, Sideways, The Aviator, Being Julia, Finding Neverland and Hotel Rwanda each demonstrating virtually unchanged interest from the past several weekends. There's every indication that winners in major categories will receive a noticeable boost and the award also-rans will quickly evaporate from the screen scene. The first major expansion for Bride and Prejudice continued to show encouraging response with the film inspired by Bollywood musicals grossing roughly $850,000 from 156 venues. Meanwhile, Bewaafa - the latest from India - debuted to no more than OK results of $130,000 from 46 screens on the specialized circuit. Another Oscar contender - Germany's Downfall - added two screens in Los Angeles and its trio of playdates generated a solid $41,000. Other debuting niche fare had passable to poor results. The Czech award winner Up & Down generated about $31,000 from six screens while the Brazilian import The Other Side of the Street grossed $4,500 from a single booking. A couple of French imports failed to translate in Quebec including 5 x 2 with a dull $18,000 from 9 playdates and Malabar Princess even duller with $11,600 in six outings. The Canadian family comedy Daniel and the Superdogs growled to a surly $58,000 from approximately 64 dog houses. - by Leonard Klady