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

April 22, 2007 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Shaken, But Not Destirred ... While four new films entered the marketplace, last week's top-slotted Disturbia held first place with an estimated $13.7 million gross. The freshmen class included a place position for the psychological thriller Fracture of $10.7 million; the chiller Vacancy ranked fourth with $7.5 million; Brit hit comedy Hot Fuzz grossed $5.8 million but generated a strong per location average; and the distaff appeal In the Land of Women entered the arena with $4.9 million. Additionally a handful of titles debuted in limited release with only the French comedy The Valet demonstrating strength with a $12,000 per location average in six exposures. Overall business took a 19% hit from 2006 and rolled back 26% from the prior weekend with revenues of roughly $88 million. The current glut of product unquestionably isn't expanding the audience but it's not unreasonable to conclude that fewer titles would have generated about the same marketplace gross. A year ago such fungible entertainment as Silent Hill and The Sentinel bowed in first and third positions with respective grosses of $20.1 million and $14.4 million. The fleeting appeal of the April releases was aptly reflected in 65% to 70% drops for last weekend's debuts with the exception of Disturbia that fell 38%. The current debs likely won't be hit as hard but are wading in a much shallower pool. Despite upbeat reviews and strong tracking Fracture - the current frame's anticipated leader - was hit by audience ennui and with a campaign that mirrored Silence of the Lambs it's no wonder a jaded public refrained from buying tickets. Ticket buyers were also deterred from checking into Vacancy or In the Land of Women and one has to conclude they've grown tired of cookie cutter formulas. The observation is propped up by the comparative strength of Hot Fuzz, a wry English comedy about an ordinarily peaceful village disrupted by overzealous local cops. Its $7,050 theater average was 55% better than the next film in national release. The bulwark titles of the past two months remained consistent including Blades of Glory that pushed past a $100 million domestic gross Sunday. The redoubtable Francis Veber was back in fine form with The Valet that's struggled to find an American distributor for a year despite his enviable U.S. track record. The antic comedy grossed $74,200 from six venues. Another French hit, the thriller Ne le dit a personne, was indifferently received in Quebec with a $37,500 box office from 17 situations. Other exclusives were largely moribund especially a 50 screen break for the genre entry The Tripper that eked out about $21,100. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - April 20-22, 2007 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change Theaters Cume Disturbia Par 22.8 (7,800) - 2925 22.8 Blades of Glory Par 14.2 (4,090) -37% 3467 90.3 Meet the Robinsons BV 12.0 (3,700) -28% 3238 71.9 Perfect Stranger Sony 11.4 (4,300) -- 2661 11.4 Are We Done Yet? Sony 9.0 (3,780) -37% 2877 32.8 Pathfinder Fox 4.7 (2,720) - 1720 4.7 Wild Hogs BV 4.6 (1,630) -31% 2825 152.2 The Reaping WB 4.5 (1,740) -55% 2603 19.7 300 WB 4.4 (1,640) -48% 2674 200.9 Grindhouse Weinstein Co. 4.1 (1,570) -64% 2629 19.6 Redline Chicago Pics 3.9 (2,440) - 1607 3.9 Shooter Par 3.1 (1,630) -47% 1907 42.1 Aqua Teen Hunger Team First Look 2.9 (3,330) - 877 2.9 Firehouse Dog Fox 2.8 (960) -28% 2881 9.9 TMNT WB 2.1 (1,140) -56% 1855 50.7 The Hoax Miramax 1.5 (3,560) 1% 413 3.4 The Namesake Fox Searchlight 1.3 (3,840) -26% 331 8.7 Premonition Sony 1.2 (1,180) -62% 992 46.9 Reign Over Me Sony .86 (870) -65% 990 19.1 Slow Burn Lions Gate .74 (640) - 1163 0.74 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $112.10 - - - % Change (Last Year) - -2% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -6% - - - Also debuting/expanding Black Book Sony Classics .22 (7,960) 97% 28 0.4 Year of the Dog Par Vantage .10 (14,770) - 7 0.1 Moliere Christal 78,500 (2,800) - 28 0.08 Lonely Hearts IDP 73,400 (3,190) - 23 0.07 Red Road Tartan 17,700 (5,900) - 3 0.02 Private Fears in Public Places (Coeurs) IFC 14,600 (7,300) - 2 0.01 Dreaming Lhasa First Run 7,820 (7,820) - 1 0.01 Everything's Gone Green First Independent 4,100 (4,100) - 1 0.01   Worldwide Grosses - Jan 1 - April 19, 2007 300 WB 409,145,844 Night at the Museum * Fox 389,603,498 Ghost Rider Sony 222,613,046 The Pursuit of Happyness * Sony 206,478,360 Wild Hogs BV 181,808,880 Norbit Par 153,942,042 Music and Lyrics WB 133,949,748 Mr. Bean's Holiday Uni/UIP 131,377,809 Blood Diamond * WB 129,894,135 Dreamgirls * Par 117,295,053 Meet the Robinsons BV 111,390,892 Bridge to Terabithia BV/Summit 108,523,774 Casino Royale * Sony 102,900,633 Blades of Glory Par 100,143,163 Rocky Balboa * MGM/Fox 97,255,258 Happy Feet * WB 93,233,569 The Holiday * Sony 83,580,408 Eragon * Fox 83,760,181 Charlotte's Web * Par 82,799,416 Epic Movie Fox 77,340,771 * does not include 2006 box office   Domestic Market Share: Jan 1 - April 19, 2007 Distributor (releases) Gross Mrkt Share Sony (13) 438.9 17.00% Warner Bros. (15) 430.7 16.70% Paramount (11) 430.1 16.60% Buena Vista (11) 333.8 12.90% Fox (12) 253.4 9.80% Universal (8) 202.1 7.80% MGM (9) 78.1 3.00% New Line (5) 68.4 2.70% Lions Gate (6) 56.3 2.20% Fox Searchlight (6) 53.4 2.10% Miramax (4) 39.7 1.50% Picturehouse (2) 36.9 1.40% Paramount Vantage (3) 24 0.90% Weinstein Co. (5) 22.7 0.90% Sony Classics (6) 22.4 0.90% IDP (3) 20.7 0.80% Focus (1) 16.5 0.60% Other * (82) 56.1 2.20% * none greater than 0.4% 2584.2 100.00%