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

April 1, 2007 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Thick Ice ... Blades of Glory figured an impressive estimated $33.1 million to take the gold in weekend box office viewing. There was also good news for the animated Meet the Robinsons that ranked second with $25.7 million but eyes were elsewhere for The Lookout. Additionally the stealth reissue of Peaceful Warrior had the industry buzzing and limited bows for both Danish Oscar nominee After the Wedding and 25 year old Killer of Sheep posted strong bows. Icy antics melted the ice for Blades of Glory, the outrageous comedy teaming Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as improbable pairs skaters. The film was largely propelled by young males and saw a slight 1% dip in the transition from opening day to Saturday business. Nonetheless the opening salvo minimally suggests an $80 million domestic gross and more if it can replicate the stamina of Talladega Nights. Robinsons tapped into the family audience effectively with 615 engagements bolstered by 3-D versions of the hijinx. Disney had an incomplete breakdown of 2-D versus 3-D strength but anticipate the latter will demonstrate at least double the overall screen average of roughly $7,500. The film also bowed day and date in a number of major international territories including England where it grossed approximately $1 million. However, generally it was an uneven translation with just Mexico giving it top ranking on a 400k box office. Last week's sextet of freshmen mostly got clobbered in their second weekends with four posting 60% declines and only Shooter off by less than 50%. 300 and Wild Hogs once again proved to be the most resilient continuing titles in the marketplace. Overall ticket sales should come up slightly shy of $130 million to translate into 6% slippage from seven days earlier. The downturn was a marginally steeper 9% placed beside 2006 when the launch of Ice Age: The Meltdown was an easier winner with a $68 million box office and counter-programmer ATL bowed in third spot with $11.5 million. The two most intriguing elements of the weekend ranked further down the charts. Peaceful Warrior, an inspirational saga with an amateur athletics backdrop, flew under the radar which is rather unusual for a picture estimating a $2 million gross. Originally released in June 2006 by Lionsgate, the film was reacquired by Universal that created a stealth campaign with the Best Buy circuit offering free tickets and promotional coin. Very little was spent in conventional advertising, so the commercial result will definitely get the industry's attention. (Last year's limited release ultimately generated a $1.1 million box office). However, while there's bound to be future experiments along these lines, there aren't many obvious candidates suitable for this type of re-exposure especially considering the usual quick transition to video shelves. The other unusual item is the less positive $1.9 gross for the critically embraced noir thriller The Lookout. The picture received superlative reviews that nonetheless translated into a near frigid $2,000 engagement average. It demonstrates the conundrum faced by studio specialized divisions torn between slow rollouts and more aggressive debuts that aim to bring in a broader audience and fail to initially target a picture's core appeal crowd. When the strategy fails, it's virtually impossible to regroup in the current sated environment. In niche and exclusive play there wasn't much encouragement for American indies Live Free or Die or Race You to the Bottom. However, the acclaimed After the Wedding from Denmark was off to a good start with $43,500 box office from five engagements. Even more unusual was the first U.S. theatrical engagements for Killer of Sheep that dates back to the early 1980s and has already been installed in the Library of Congress's annual list of 25 films of distinction. Having done the first review from the Berlin Film Festival in 1981 (very favorably) the opening provides a late personal vindication. The picture was held up largely by distribution's indifference to clearing Sheep's musical rights that only recently became a passionate pursuit for Milestone Film. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals - March 30 - April 1, 2007 - - Title Distrib Weekend % Change Theaters Cume Wks 1 New Blades of Glory Par 33,014,202 - 3372 33,014,202 1 2 New Meet the Robinsons BV 25,123,781 - 3413 25,123,781 1 3 2 300 WB 11,434,437 -42% 3004 179,941,919 4 4 1 TNMT WB 9,232,362 -62% 3120 38,500,646 2 5 4 Wild Hogs BV 8,662,893 -37% 3200 135,628,796 5 6 3 Shooter Par 8,364,413 -42% 2806 27,576,332 2 7 7 Premonition Sony 5,213,264 -45% 2474 39,455,581 3 8 6 The Hills Have Eyes II Fox 5,213,264 -57% 2474 16,069,995 2 9 8 Reign Over Me Sony 4,186,386 -49% 1671 13,465,869 2 10 5 The Last Mimzy New Line 3,815,600 -62% 3017 16,007,619 2 11 New Peaceful Warrior (reissue) Uni 2,671,930 - 615 2,671,930 1 12 New The Lookout Miramax 2,017,795 - 955 2,017,795 1 13 15 The Namesake Fox Searchlight 1,545,971 18% 237 4,609,030 5 14 9 Pride Lions Gate 1,444,021 -59% 1518 5,739,228 2 15 10 Dead Silence Uni 1,329,510 -61% 974 15,474,960 3 16 11 I Think I Love My Wife Fox Searchlight 872,579 -68% 597 11,771,765 3 17 14 Amazing Grace IDP 849,050 -42% 612 18,258,667 6 18 19 The Lives of Others Sony Classics 610,325 -18% 259 6,557,434 8 19 21 Night at the Museum Fox 602,610 7% 414 247,718,328 15 20 12 Bridge to Terabithia BV 595,734 -74% 854 80,307,788 7 21 13 Ghost Rider Sony 538,245 -68% 578 114,231,820 7 22 New A vos marques … Party Christal 440,441 - 76 440,441 1 23 31 The Wind That Shakes the Barley IFC/Christal 370,222 133% 62 799,166 2 24 16 Zodiac Par 369,859 -68% 273 32,448,587 5 25 17 Norbit Par 293,733 -70% 412 94,570,382 8 26 25 The Host Magnolia 282,774 5% 116 1,452,018 4 27 18 Music and Lyrics WB 269,116 -69% 335 49,731,382 7 28 20 Namastey London Eros 210,111 -64% 65 882,667 2 29 23 Happy Feet WB 201,559 -49% 294 197,560,897 20 30 22 Breach Uni 197,220 -61% 228 32,791,865 7 31 28 Deep Sea 3-D WB 177,501 -13% 35 25,542,690 57 32 26 Pan's Labyrinth Picturehouse 169,624 -32% 155 36,947,126 14 33 27 La Vie en Rose TVA 139,271 -39% 42 877,687 3 34 34 Miss Potter MGM 123,113 -18% 82 1,876,319 14 35 41 Avenue Montaigne (Orchestra Seats) Thinkfilm/Seville 110,928 2% 30 961,921 26 36 29 The Pursuit of Happyness Sony 104,783 -47% 181 164,044,795 16 37 44 Journey from the Fall ImaginAsia 99,080 13% 6 217,724 2 38 33 The Last King of Scotland Fox Searchlight 98,686 -35% 89 17,332,503 27 39 24 The Number 23 New Line 98,341 -71% 149 35,291,508 6 40 35 Charlotte's Web Par 89,015 -34% 190 82,898,749 16 41 38 Sharkwater Alliance 88,880 -28% 30 273,756 1 42 60 Magnificent Desolation Imax 80,482 174% 12 18,234,088 79 43 30 The Ultimate Gift Bigger Picture 80,060 -58% 84 3,178,843 4 44 32 The Messengers Sony 78,608 -49% 165 35,717,511 9 45 36 Blood Diamond WB 65,681 -50% 128 57,312,489 17 46 67 Arthur and the Invisibles MGM 64,028 188% 170 15,004,318 12 47 43 Because I Said So Uni 56,445 -40% 124 42,640,890 9 48 40 The Queen Miramax 52,950 -55% 97 56,109,603 27 49 New After the Wedding IFC  47,311 - 5 47,311 1 50 57 Into Great Silence (Die Grosse Stille) Zietgeist/Mongrel 46,596 20% 12 346,327 15 51 45 Epic Movie  Fox 43,098 -42% 90 39,666,075 10 52 47 The Painted Veil WIP 41,705 -39% 52 7,932,205 15 53 52 Roving Mars BV 39,796 -23% 13 6,586,756 62 54 46 Stomp the Yard Sony 36,061 -49% 68 61,528,959 12 55 39 The Astronaut Farmer WB 35,374 -70% 71 10,755,700 6 56 48 Volver Sony Class/Seville 34,113 -44% 60 13,762,685 22 57 37 Daddy's Little Girls Lions Gate 33,348 -74% 46