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

April 23, 2006 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Silent Hill ... Holy Moly Silent Hill scared up an estimated $20.3 million to rank as the top attraction at the weekend box office. The frames other debuting fare rated good returns of $14.4 million for the thriller The Sentinel and a less than euphoric $3.8 million for the satiric American Dreamz. Overall business dipped modestly from the prior weekend but against a double-digit upturn from 2005 business. Screen Gems continued its enviable record for acquiring horror programmers and selling them to the public with Silent Hill. The image of a teenage school girl with an erased mouth provided sufficient intrigue to draw in the core young adult market and the numbers once again underlined why studios like the sort of genre fare that used to be the staple of independent distribution companies. Last week's leader Scary Movie 4 fell into second spot with $16.7 million and attested to the fact that there's big made to be made from sending up the genre that has provided a big part of the movie industry's fast food diet. The Sentinel provided nourishment for devotees of the paranoia thriller with a plot about political chicanery and assassination. According to Friday exit polling that crowd was comprised of an audience more than 70% above the age of 30 while Silent Hill was luring a younger sect that preferred more visceral thrills. Weekend business approached roughly $108 million that translated into an 11% erosion from seven days earlier. It was nonetheless a 16% improvement from last year when another political thriller - The Interpreter - was the higher scorer with a $22.8 million opening. The parallels between American Dreamz and The Sentinel provided little benefit for the former film. Both yarns are driven by political assassination but whereas the Michael Douglas vehicle plays it straight, Dreamz weighs heavily on irony and humor and Americanz, based on theater tickets, have yet to appreciate the funny side of terrorism. It's also fair to say that the comedy has a better defined political sensibility. Holdover titles were largely experiencing fast commercial burns with the exception of family films and especially animated movies. Though its opening weekend was a disappointment, The Wild ebbed just 18% in its second exposure. But commercial fare is currently a very thin field headed for the exit as the May onslaught of commercial behemoths looms. The Sundance-preemed Friends with Money capitalized on the momentart marketplace lull and expanded to about 1,000 theaters and fair returns of $3 million. However, it's unlikely to equal the commercial record of Thank You for Smoking that is currently at $15.6 million and a $20 million theatrical finale. Activity in the niches was generally tepid with Mexican import La Mujer de Mi Hermano folding in half from it opener and the expansion of The Notorious Bettie Page expanding to no better than modest results. Debuting titles that included the Australian drama Somersault and the American indie Standing Still failed to spark significant interest. In Canada, NFL playoffs prompted an English-Canadian launch for the biopic of legendary Habs iceman Maurice Richard. Its $200,000 box office was a good result but pales in comparison to the $5 million it grossed in Quebec late in 2005. - by Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - April 12-16, 2006 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change Theaters Cume Silent Hill Sony 20.3 (6,930) - 2926 20.3 Scary Movie 4 Weinstein Co. 16.7 (4,550) -58% 3674 67.4 The Sentinel Fox 14.4 (5,100) 2819 14.4 Ice Age: The Meltdown Fox 12.7 (3,590) -37% 3540 167.8 The Wild BV 7.9 (2,780) -18% 2854 21.9 The Benchwarmers Sony 7.3 (2,350) -27% 3094 47.1 Take the Lead New Line 4.2 (1,730) -39% 2413 29.6 American Dreamz Uni 3.8 (2,520) - 1500 3.8 Inside Man Uni 3.7 (1,830) -42% 2021 81.3 Friends with Money Sony Classics 3.0 (2,990) 300% 991 4.7 Thank You for Smoking Fox Searchlight 2.6 (2,570) -42% 1020 15.6 Lucky Number Slevin MGM 2.3 (1,340) -51% 1735 18.5 Failure to Launch Par 1.5 (1,140) -44% 1295 85.7 V for Vendetta WB .97 (1,020) -56% 855 67.9 Phat Girlz Fox Serachlight .52 (1,170) -61% 444 6.4 La Mujer de Mi Hermano Lions Gate .51 (2,350) -50% 217 1.8 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $101.90 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 16% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -11% - - - Also debuting/expanding The Notorious Bettie Page Picturehouse .19 (3,620) 31% 52 0.39 Sommersault Magnolia 21,500 (4,300) - 5 0.02 Standing Still Innovation 16,200 (1,080) - 15 0.02 Stolen Intl Film Circuit 6,900 (6,900) - 1 0.01 Our Italian Husband Echo Bridge 3,400 (850) - 4 0.01 Top Domestic Releases: January 1 - April 20, 2006 Ice Age: The Meltdown Fox 155,063,727 Failure to Launch Par 84,193,661 The Pink Panther Sony 82,331,172 The Chronicles of Narnia BV 82,211,477 Eight Below BV 80,282,969 Inside Man Uni 77,564,555 Brokeback Mountain Focus 70,602,075 Big Momma's House 2 Fox 69,813,761 V for Vendetta WB 66,952,829 Medea's Family Reunion Lions Gate 63,142,537 Underworld: Evolution Sony 62,615,442 King Kong Uni 59,422,439 Curious George Uni 58,083,035 Fun with Dick and Jane Sony 57,288,236 The Shaggy Dog BV 56,977,022 Final Destination 3 NLC 54,135,664 Hoodwinked Weinstein Co. 51,140,846 Scary Movie 4 Weinstein Co. 50,663,239 Firewall WB 48,421,467 When a Stranger Calls Sony 48,376,198 Domestic Market Share: January 1 - April 20, 2006 Fox (10) 396.3 16.00% Sony (13) 364.1 14.70% Buena Vista (13) 333.6 13.40% Universal (8) 294.8 11.90% Warner Bros. (10) 232.6 9.40% Paramount (6) 160.1 6.40% Weinstein Co. (9) 151.7 6.10% Lions Gate (8) 129.2 5.20% New Line (6) 100.6 4.10% Focus (7) 100.2 4.00% Fox Searchlight (6) 80.2 3.20% Sony Classics (11) 31.3 1.30% DreamWorks (3) 24.7 1.00% MGM (1) 16.2 0.60% Other * (102) 66 2.70% * none greater than 0.5% 2481.6 100.00%