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

May 29, 2006 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share The X-Files … to be continued ... Though publicized as the conclusion of a franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand isn't likely to be the last word on the cinematic mutant super heroes. It led the 4-day Memorial holiday frame with an estimated $120.8 million with second place falling to The Da Vinci Code with $43.3 million. X-Men added an additional $76 million from its initial forays in overseas markets. It was the second largest grossing Memorial weekend; trailing record levels set in 2004. X-Men 3 was the only debuting national release but Fanaa, a new Bollywood entry, and the global warming doc An Inconvenient Truth both rang up potent returns in niche premiere engagements. Entering the weekend, expectations were high for X but according to a Fox exec the top estimate was $85 million. "The first inkling that it was going to be bigger started with the Thursday Midnight screenings," said Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder. "The first estimate was $3.9 million but as we separated those shows from Friday box office it rose by close to $2 million." As with last weekend's The Da Vinci Code, X-Men daily box office declined throughout the span. However, with a $40 million start (plus Midnight shows), the final tally set at least one new impressive benchmark - biggest Memorial gross. The question of how hard a hit The Da Vinci Code would experience in its second session was answered with a 56% decline (comparison is 3-day). The Friday comparison was even steeper at 62%. Nonetheless, the drop was in line with expectations and initial international returns indicate the controversial thriller held at a 60% level with weekend projections of roughly $90 million. Da Vinci and X-Men: The Last Stand vied for top spot in most first tier territories as major releases scramble to get into theaters in advance of World Cup soccer finals. X-Men initial salvo was minus openings in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China and included impressive bows of $12.8 million in the U.K., $10.6 million in France, $5.1 million in Australia, Mexico with $5.9 million and Russia bowing with $3.1 million. Da Vinci maintained top spot in such territories as Germany, Italy and Spain as well as Japan. Weekend box office should tally close to $240 million for a 3% boost from the 2005 holiday span. Its three-day portion exceed last weekend by 34%. Holdover titles proved to be more resilient than expected with family fare holding up best to current top releases. The animated Over the Hedge ranked third with an estimated $35.6 million that only experienced a 30% decline in its second session. The much-publicized globe warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth stepped out on four screens and heated up a torrid $370,000 during the holiday frame. The film, focusing on efforts by Al Gore in the arena, got an early start on the weekend with a Wednesday bow that netted $123,000 in its first two days. The news was also upbeat for Fanaa with the unusual dramatic musical from Mumbai eyeing roughly $820,000 from 72 venues in North America. - by Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - May 26-29, 2006 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change Theaters Cume X-Men: The Last Stand Fox 120.8 (32,750) - 3689 120.8 The Da Vinci Code Sony 43.3 (11,540) -56% 3754 145.8 Over the Hedge Par 35.6 (8,690) -30% 4093 84.6 Mission: Impossible III Par 8.6 (2,820) -41% 3053 115.9 Poseidon WB 7.1 (2,180) -41% 3245 46.7 RV Sony 5.3 (2,150) -18% 2481 57.2 See No Evil Lionsgate 3.2 (2,540) -43% 1270 9.2 Just My Luck Fox 2.3 (1,440) -46% 1604 13.9 United 93 Uni 1.1 (1,370) -42% 781 29.9 Akeelah and the Bee Lionsgate 1.0 (2,012) -29% 487 17.2 An American Haunting Freestyle .91 (1,220) -52% 748 14.9 Ice Age: The Meltdown Fox .85 (1,340) -33% 633 190.6 Fanaa Yash Raj .82 (11,390) - 72 0.82 Keeping Up with the Steins Miramax .71 (4,860) 45% 146 2 Thank You for Smoking Fox Searchlight .61 (2,260) -7% 270 23 Stick It BV .51 (1,140) -62% 449 24.7 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $232.70 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 3% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 34% - - - Also debuting/expanding An Inconvenient Truth Par Classics .37 (93,200) - 4 0.5 Cavite Truly Indie 16,200 (8,100) - 2 0.02 Domestic Market Share: January 1 - May 25, 2006 Sony (16) 578.8 17.90% Fox (12) 477.9 14.80% Buena Vista (15) 385.4 11.90% Universal (10) 342.1 10.60% Paramount (8) 321.4 9.90% Warner Bros. (11) 280.1 8.70% Weinstein Co. (9) 189.6 5.90% Lions Gate (10) 154.7 4.80% New Line (7) 117.7 3.60% Focus (7) 101.1 3.10% Fox Searchlight (7) 92.5 2.90% Sony Classics (13) 45 1.40% DreamWorks (3) 24.7 0.80% MGM (1) 22.3 0.70% Other * (128) 98.7 3.00% * none greater than 0.5% 3232 100.00%