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

October 8, 2006 Weekend Estimates Top Limited Release Grosses Domestic Market Share More Bang For The Bucks ... The Departed left the station with an estimated $26.5 million to claim weekend bragging rights as the session's top attraction. There were also upbeat returns for freshmen entries The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning that ranked second with $19.1 million and a fourth place finish for Employee of the Month of $11.7 million. Additionally Trailer Park Boys had a potent bow of $1.2 million in Canada for its Thanksgiving holiday frame and exclusive bows for both Little Children and ShortBus drew strong response. Overall business spiked noticeably from both last weekend and the comparable 2005 frame. Based on a Hong Kong police thriller that spawned two sequels, The Departed arrived in the marketplace with high hopes both commercially and artistically. It didn't disappoint on either level with many citing it as a return to form and roots for director Martin Scorsese. Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. distribution president, said box office was slightly better than anticipated but surprises came elsewhere. Anticipated to skew older and male, exit polls showed a near equal gender split as well as a 50/50 balance for over and under 25s. The significant youth appeal of The Departed did not appear to drain business from either TCM: The Beginning or Employee of the Month. The umpteenth incarnation of the power tool saga sliced through the marketplace with abandon while the high concept comedy easily out-performed expectations that pegged box office at decidedly less than $10 million. Weekend ticket sales will be in the vicinity of $112 million for a 13% boost from seven days earlier. It also represents an 8% increase from 2005 when the debut of the Wallace & Gromit movie took top spot with a $16 million gross and three other freshmen entries failed to crack an individual gross of $10 million. The majority of holdover titles took hard hits with the exception of family fare such as Open Season and upscale outings that include The Illusionist. Trailer Park Boys, a raucous comedy from Ivan Reitman's company, proved muscular with a $1.2 million gross. Yet to secure U.S. distribution, its performance should tip the balance in its favor. The first wave of Oscar hopefuls were all playing like contenders. The Queen was most regal with just shy of $400,000 from 11 engagements while the rise and fall of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland garnered $293,000 from 30 locations. New to the mix was Little Children with theater averages of $20,640 from five play pens. Also demonstrating considerable heft was the sexually explicit ShortBus with a $77,300 gross from four outings. Less inspirational was Love's Abiding Joy with roughly $130,000 from 185 pulpits and the teenage spy yarn Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker eking out $100,000 in Canadian release prior to next week's U.S. launch. There was also no better than fair response to a pair of documentaries in exclusive release. The Tony Kushner portrait Wrestling with Angels generated $5,840 from a single Manhattan screen and the political So Goes the Nation drew $1,940 from two venues. - by Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - October 8, 2006 Title Distrib Gross (avg) % Chg Thea Cume The Departed WB 26.5 (8,790) x 3017 26.5 Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning New Line 19.1 (6,780) x 2820 19.1 Open Season Sony 15.9 (4,140) -33% 3833 44 Employee of the Month Lions Gate 11.7 (4,550) x 2579 11.7 The Guardian BV 9.7 (3,000) -46% 3241 32.5 Jackass: Number Two Par 6.4 (2,120) -56% 3007 62.7 School for Scoundrels MGM 3.5 (1,170) -59% 3007 14.1 The Gridiron Gang  Sony 2.4 (1,060) -48% 2228 36.7 Fearless Focus 2.3 (1,400) -55% 1617 21.7 The Illusionist YF/FS/Odeon 1.8 (1,600) -33% 1149 34.1 Little Miss Sunshine Fox Searchlight 1.3 (1,540) -36% 824 55 Trailer Park Boys Alliance 1.2 (6,680) 181 1.2 Flyboys MGM 1.1 (730) -55% 1471 11.9 Facing the Giants IDP 1.0 (2,250) -27% 435 2.7 The Science of Sleep WIP/Seville .74 (3,290) -34% 225 2.8 The Black Dahlia Uni .56 (600) -74% 931 22 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) x $105.20 x x x % Change (Last Year) x 8% x x x % Change (Last Week) x 13% x x x Also debuting/expanding The Queen Miramax .39 (35,270) 132% 11 0.62 The Last King of Scotland Fox Searchlight .29 (9,770) 105% 30 0.53 Love's Abiding Joy Bigger Pics .13 (720) x 185 0.13 Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker Alliance .10 (900) x 115 0.1 Little Children New Line .10 (20,640) x 5 0.1 ShortBus Thinkfilm 77,300 (19,330) x 4 0.08 Cheech Alliance 53,600 (1,790) x 30 0.05 49 Up First Run 49,500 (2,480) x 20 0.05 Kettle of Fish Aloha 5,900 (1,950) x 3 0.01 Wrestling with Angels Balcony 5,840 (5,840) x 1 0.01 So Goes the Nation IFC 1,940 (970) x 2 0.01 Top Worldwide Releases: To October 5, 2006 Title  Distributor Gross Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BVI 1,052,988,514 The Da Vinci Code Sony 754,716,173 Ice Age: The Meltdown Fox 643,632,908 X-Men: The Last Stand Fox 454,810,466 Cars BVI 449,117,700 Mission: Impossible III Par 396,110,014 Superman Returns WB 389,211,658 Over the Hedge Par/UIP 320,380,013 The Chronicles of Narnia * BV 287,636,880 The Break-Up Uni 200,626,088 Click Sony 200,273,999 Inside Man Uni 184,030,941 Scary Movie 4 Weinstein/BVI 177,972,649 Brokeback Mountain * Focus 169,023,817 Poseidon WB 167,243,651 The Pink Panther Sony/Fox 159,660,454 Talladega Nights: Legend of Ricky Bobby Sony 157,801,193 The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift Uni 156,229,348 Miami Vice Uni 152,465,641 The Devil Wears Prada Fox 147,833,013 * does not include 2005 box office   Domestic Market Share: To September 28, 2006 Distributor (releases) Gross Percentage Sony (26) 1245.1 17.80% Buena Vista (20) 1205.9 17.30% Fox (20) 1009.9 14.50% Paramount (13) 744.8 10.70% Universal (17) 736.4 10.60% Warner Bros. (17) 675.5 9.70% Weinstein Co. (12) 224.2 3.20% Lions Gate (15) 223.1 3.20% Focus (11) 167.2 2.40% New Line (9) 166.2 2.40% Fox Searchlight (11) 152.9 2.20% MGM (5) 79.4 1.10% Sony Classics (19) 52.2 0.70% FreeStyle (8) 46.7 0.70% Other * (220) 243.7 3.50% * none greater than 0.05% 6973.2 100.00%