..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

January 1, 2007 Weekend Estimates Top Domestic Releases Domestic Market Share Night at the Museum remained the top draw for the New Year's weekend with an estimated four-day gross of $46.6 million. The year ended with a surge, abetted by the holiday's Sunday placement. It marked about a 7% hike from revenues on the last weekend of 2005 with final figures of approximately $208 million. Museum emerged as the holiday offering that plays to all ages. A funhouse ride of slightly more than 100 minutes it almost doubled the box office its closest competition; charging to $100 million in its ninth day of release. The Will Smith vehicle The Pursuit of Happyness ranked second with $24.7 million. It also exceeded $100 million domestically on New Year's Day. Dreamgirls is playing both the entertainment and prestige cards with aplomb. It finished third with $18.3 million and an impressive theater average of roughly $21,500. The other year end award contenders are either just entering the marketplace or remain in limited release. While the hectic holiday frame skirted outright catastrophe, the lineup nonetheless had its fair share of surprises and disappointments. Overall the lack of sequels or franchise titles coupled with improved attendance has to be seen as a positive sign for the industry. The flip side is that there remain too many films in the marketplace. That's best typified by We Are Marshall, a film that's received top marks from the critics but continues to be a third or fourth choice for viewers. It shows all the signs of disappearing theatrically before audiences get around to seeing it. Among the surprises is The Good Shepherd which has become the "serious" movie of choice. It's enjoying the sort of business that was anticipated for Blood Diamond, a more obvious candidate for popular crossover. Other unexpectedly potent titles include Rocky Balboa and Charlotte's Web. The latter was a slow starter that was written off early by pundits but continues to play well with the family crowd. The box office passed 2005 levels on Christmas day and should finish out at approximately $9.21 billion. That translates into a 3.5% boost from last year and, possibly, a marginal increase in admissions. The National Association of Theater Owners is already claiming a 1% boost in ticket sales but sources at several major chains say they expect admissions to be on par with last year. The only title to open wide in the final week was a remake of the 1974 thriller Black Christmas. It grossed an OK $4.6 million after collecting about $7.1 million prior to the weekend. The session also provided lots of encouraging news for a trio of limited release freshmen that are hoping to benefit from award season fervor. Both the Spanish-language Pan's Labyrinth and the science-fiction allegory Children of Men recorded $40,000 plus averages from 17 and 16 screens respectively and the psychological drama Notes on a Scandal posted close to $26,000 average from 22 venues. Other year end offering in under the wire included Perfume: Story of a Murderer with $48,300 from three theaters; Miss Potter ringing up $12,800 from two screens and The Dead Girl grossing $8,100 from two sites. Vying for awards and translating prestige for lucre is looking to be quite daunting entering the New Year. Both Little Children and The Last King of Scotland put aside fall expansions, confident that early awards and notice on top 10 lists would be better served by going wide in January. Add to the list Letters from Iwo Jima, Venus, The Painted Veil, Curse of the Golden Flower and The Good German and there's little doubt that some of these films will get lost in the shuffle. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - Dec 29, 2006- January 1, 2007 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change Theaters Cume Night at the Museum Fox 46.6 (12,360) 10% 3768 125.6 The Pursuit of Happyness Sony 24.7 (8,610) 10% 2870 103.8 Dreamgirls Par 18.3 (21,510) 105% 852 41.3 Charlotte's Web Par 14.8 (3,960) 55% 3745 55.7 The Good Shepherd Uni 14.2 (6,400) 0% 2218 38.2 Rocky Balboa MGM 13.6 (4,490) -20% 3019 51.1 Eragon Fox 10.7 (3,570) 14% 2985 58.9 We Are Marshall WB 10.3 (3,960) 20% 2606 27.4 Happy Feet WB 9.6 (3,760) 47% 2565 163.6 The Holiday Sony 8.4 (3,130) 23% 2698 51.7 Blood Diamond WB 6.4 (3,350) 35% 1920 37.3 Casino Royale Sony 6.2 (4,040) 43% 1543 155.1 Black Christmas MGM 4.6 (3,000) - 1544 11.8 Apocalypto BV 4.4 (2,150) -3% 2034 43.8 The Nativity Story New Line 1.8 (1,380) -72% 1327 38.8 Unaccompanied Minors WB 1.3 (1,240) 19% 1021 15.3 The Queen Miramax 1.2 (4,070) 103% 302 28.5 Déjà vu BV 1.1 (1,730) 2% 655 60.2 Borat Fox .96 (2,410) 20% 399 126 Volver Sony Classics .87 (6,960) 37% 125 5 Pan's Labyrinth Picturehouse .73 (42,940) - 17 0.73 Children of Men Uni .66 (41,250) - 16 1.2 The Santa Clause 3 BV .62 (1,010) -53% 611 81.7 Curse of the Golden Flower Sony Classics .59 (9,830) -17% 60 1.7 Notes on a Scandal Searchlight .57 (25,910) - 22 0.77 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $203.20 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 7% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 15% - - - Also debuting/expanding The Painted Veil WIP .47 (12,780) 557% 37 0.61 Little Children New Line  .17 (5,220) 59% 32 2.5 The Good German WB .15 (7,950) 12% 19 0.49 Letter from Iwo Jima WB .11 (22,800) -7% 5 0.34 Perfume Par 48,300 (16,100) - 3 0.07 Venus Miramax 45,600 (15,200) -7% 3 0.12 Miss Potter MGM 12,800 (6,400) - 2 0.01 The Dead Girl First Look 8,100 (4,050) - 2 0.01 The Tiger and the Snow Strand 4,400 (1,100) - 4 0.01 Top Domestic Grossers: Jan 1 - Dec 28, 2006 Title Distributor Gross Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BVI 423,526,320 Cars BVI 224,308,950 X-Men: The Last Stand Fox 234,362,462 The Da Vinci Code Sony 217,988,137 Superman Returns WB 200,166,555 Ice Age: The Meltdown Fox 195,330,621 Happy Feet WB 168,317,446 Over the Hedge Par 155,562,848 Talladega Nights: Legend of Ricky Bobby Sony 149,082,501 Casino Royale Sony 148,924,817 Click Sony 137,791,464 Mission: Impossible III Par 133,930,344 Borat  Fox 125,030,670 The Devil Wears Prada Fox 124,740,460 The Departed WB 120,016,826 The Break-Up Uni 118,778,358 Scary Movie 4 Weinstein Co. 90,710,620 Failure to Launch Par 88,915,704 Inside Man Uni 88,593,474 Open Season Sony 85,186,009 Domestic Market Share: To December 28, 2006 Distributor (releases) Gross Percentage Sony (33) 1686.9 18.60% Buena Vista (25) 1468.6 16.20% Fox (28) 1352.2 14.90% Warner Bros. (25) 1043.4 11.50% Pararmount (17) 923.1 10.20% Universal (21) 805.1 8.90% Lions Gate (18) 333.6 3.70% New Line (13) 253.7 2.80% Weinstein Co. (14) 226.5 2.50% Focus (13) 184.8 2.00% Fox Searchlight (14) 164.7 1.80% MGM (11) 152.6 1.70% FreeStyle (9) 57.7 0.60% Sony Classics (23) 55.9 0.60% Other * (273) 353 3.90% * none greater than 0.5% 9061.8 100.00%