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

October 29, 2006 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Booooooooo! More treat than trick commercially speaking, Saw III sliced through the marketplace with an estimated $34.2 million to take command as weekend movie favorite. The frame had only one other national debut with the political thriller Catch a Fire at a low spark of $2.1 million. Activity was torrid in limited and platform bows with Babel most impressive at $360,000 from seven venues and the Dixie Chick's Shut Up & Sing generating a tuneful $47,000 from four concerts. However, the controversial Death of a President was mostly firing blanks with about a $200,000 tally from 122 playdates. Bond may have a license to kill but Saw's license to print money carries considerably greater industry weight. The third installment of the grisly saga sold even more weekend tickets than segment two released 52 weeks ago. Unless OPEC seizes control of resources for movie blood this inexpensive serrated franchise has considerably more commercial mileage in its tank. The frame also featured some excellent holds for, again, The Departed and Open Season and a better than expected 65% hold for The Prestige. However, anxiety is running high over Flags of Our Fathers that added 314 screens and experienced a 35% drop in screen average. The award season cannot come too soon for the Second World War saga. Weekend revenues were approaching $105 million for a virtual carbon copy result from the immediate prior frame. There was a 9% boost from 2005 when the debut of Saw II sliced off $31.7 million, followed by the opening of the Legend of Zorro and Prime with respectively $16.3 million and $6.2 million. Fueled by four star reviews Catch a Fire entered the marketplace with 1305 screens and a disappointing $2.1 million return. The South African-set Apartheid era yarn was playing more upscale than ethnic but neither niche was particularly potent. The response was warmer for Running with Scissors that expanded from eight to 586 theaters and generated about $2.5 million for the three days. The Queen also continued to fare well in its slow roll out, adding $1.9 million to the royal coffers but The Last King of Scotland continued to falter, losing 18 screens and experiencing a 23% decline at movie polling stations. Dipping its toes into the awards race, Babel spoke to audiences with a distinctive $364,000 gross and $51,000 screen average. The film split critics at Cannes but has generally received upbeat domestic reviews and capitalized on the appeal of its international cast. Apart from Shut Up & Sing, the rest of the limited openers failed to secure a toe-hold in the marketplace. Winner of the International Critics prize at Toronto, Death of a President - a fictionalized account of George W. Bush's assassination - failed to generate even a visceral thrill for political detractors while inspirational fare including Conversation with God and The Color of the Cross had middling response and the acclaimed doc on Golden Gate suicides, The Bridge, plunged into shallow waters. - by Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - October 29, 2006 Title Distributor Gross (avg) % change Theaters Cume Saw III Lions Gate 34.2 (10,810) x 3167 34.2 The Departed WB 9.8 (3,310) -27% 2951 91 The Prestige BV 9.6 (4,200) -35% 2281 28.8 Flags of Our Fathers Par 6.3 (2,890) -38% 2190 19.9 Open Season Sony 6.1 (1,990) -26% 3059 77.3 Flicka Fox 4.9 (1,710) -36% 2877 14.1 Man of the Year Uni 4.7 (1,770) -33% 2626 28.8 The Grudge 2 Sony 3.4 (1,100) -56% 3063 36.1 Marie Antoinette Sony 2.8 (3,210) -49% 859 9.7 Running with Scissors Sony   2.5 (4,330) 1024% 586 2.9 The Guardian BV 2.4 (1,210) -35% 1973 50 Catch a Fire Focus 2.1 (1,580) x 1305 2.1 The Marine Fox 1.9 (1,030) -49% 1868 15.5 The Queen Miramax 1.9 (12,370) 25% 152 6.3 The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D BV 1.8 (10,900) -44% 168 5.9 Employee of the Month Lions Gate 1.6 (1,060) -45% 1478 26.2 One Night with the King Gener8Xion 1.5 (1,860) -36% 823 10 Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning New Line 1.2 (610) -68% 2007 38.3 Facing the Giants IDP .78 (1,980) 2% 393 6.3 Jackass: Number Two Par .52 (730) -66% 710 72 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $100.00 x x x % Change (Last Year) x 9% x x x % Change (Last Week) x 0% x x x Also debuting/expanding Babel Par Vantage .36 (51,000) x 7 0.36 The Last King of Scotland Fox Searchlight .33 (3,490) -23% 95 2.4 Death of a President Newmarket .20 (1,610) x 122 0.2 Conversations with God IDP .14 (2,150) x 64 0.14 Shut Up & Sing Weinstein Co. 47,400 (11,850) x 4 0.05 The Bridge First Stripe 43,200 (2,400) x 18 0.04 Cocaine Cowboys Magnolia 32,600 (2,720) x 12 0.03 Color of the Cross Rocky Mountain 23,600 (815) x 29 0.02 Climates Zeitgeist 9,100 (9,100) x 1 0.01 Absolute Wilson New Yorker 4,900 (2,450) x 2 0.01 Top Limited Releases: To October 26, 2006 Title  Distributor  Gross An Inconvenient Truth Par Classics 23,802,206 Match Point DmWks 23,052,317 Deep Sea 3-D WB 20,168,478 Mrs. Henderson Presents Weinstein Co. 10,662,712 Scoop Focus 10,546,627 Bon Cop Bad Cop Alliance 10,206,438 Magnificent Desolation Imax 9,393,038 Transamerica Weinstein Co. 8,771,637 A Scanner Darkly WIP 5,501,616 Facing the Giants IDP 5,500,301 The World's Fastest Indian Magnolia 5,128,124 Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada Sony Classics 4,996,040 Roving Mars BV 4,906,041 Wild Safari 3-D nWave 4,804,902 The Queen Mrmx 4,380,802 Keeping Up with the Steins Mrmx 4,354,174 The Science of Sleep WIP/Seville 4,245,872 The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D BV 4,071,660 Cache (Hidden) Sony Class/Alliance 3,732,437 Kahbi Alvida Naa Kehna Yash Raj 3,275,443 * non greater than 565 playdates Domestic Market Share: To October 26, 2006 Distributor Gross Mktshr Sony (29) 1336.2 18.10% Buena Vista (22) 1256.6 17.00% Fox (22) 1033.9 14.00% Paramount (14) 775.8 10.50% Universal (18) 762.1 10.30% Warner Bros. (18) 759.1 10.20% Lions Gate (16) 248.4 3.40% Weinstein Co. (13) 225.2 3.00% New Line (11) 203.9 2.80% Focus (11) 172.4 2.30% Fox Searchlight (11) 158.5 2.10% MGM (5) 88.2 1.20% Sony Classics (20) 52.6 0.70% FreeStyle (8) 51.6 0.70% Other * (240) 275.1 3.70% * none greater than 0.45% 7399.6 100.00%