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

July 8, 2007 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Transformulaic! Shape shifting the box office, Transformers led weekend ticket sales with an estimated $67.8 million, more than doubling its closet rival Ratatouille. Anticipated as a major summer attraction, the film was given a wide berth save for the counter-programmed comedy License to Wed that ranked fourth overall with $10.3 million. Additionally several films fared well in exclusive debuts including the psychological thriller Joshua and Australian human comedy Introducing the Dwights. Flag waiver Rescue Dawn proved perfectly timed for Independence Day with an opening weekend of $104,000 from six venues. Hasbro's venerable toy chest creation Transformers staked out prime summer box office real estate and dared anyone to deny its viability as a seasonal franchise. Nonetheless, following initial trade and press screenings, the verdict was that beneath the sound and fury it was a one quadrant movie confined to young males with a domestic ceiling that would struggle to reach $200 million. Instead, since its Monday evening bow it's grossed in access of $150 million domestically. According to Paramount exit polls show the audience to be split almost evenly between males and females and that it's also 50/50 for above/below 25 year olds. Its momentum has propelled the studio to the top of the domestic market share chart that Sony had held since mid-April. Also opening mid-week was License to Wed, a comedy about a marital boot camp directed by a rather intense Protestant minister. The picture opened to just fair business in a season that's been light on humor with Knocked Up dominating the conversation. The frame generated slightly more than $170 million in revenues for a 9% upturn from seven days earliier. It was however 22% behind 2006 when the second installment of Pirates of the Caribbean entered the marketplace at $135.6 million followed by a $21.8 million second weekend gross for Superman Returns. The drop is nonetheless deceptive as a result of the Independence Day holiday falling on Wednesday. Mid-week business soaked up some of the current weekend's potency and July 4, traditionally not a big movie going day, was uncharacteristically strong in movie attendance. The temper of the season is bucking the traditional trend of big grossing films creating a snowballing effect for box office of other films in the marketplace. Rather the tent poles are experiencing steeper declines and skittering off screen at an accelerated rate. Last weekend's freshmen Ratatouille and Live Free or Die Hard at best experienced typical declines and certainly the former had a less resilient hold than previous Pixar movies. The oft-delayed release of Rescue Me received a last minute push with a vigorous campaign for the true life saga of a downed fighter pilot's imprisonment and escape during the Vietnam War. Playing on bygone patriotism translated into an impressive $17,330 theater average that bodes well for the films expansion. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals - July 6-8, 2007 Title Distrib Weekend % Change* Theaters Cume Wks 1 New Transformers Par 70,502,384 - 4011 155,405,412 1 2 1 Ratatouille BV 29,014,293 -38% 3940 109,531,598 2 3 2 Live Free or Die Hard Fox 17,730,149 -47% 3411 84,424,123 2 4 New License to Wed WB 10,422,258 - 2604 17,838,076 1 5 3 Evan Almighty Uni 8,719,135 -42% 3460 78,706,785 3 6 4 1408 MGM 7,088,979 -33% 2631 53,738,325 3 7 6 Knocked Up Uni 5,222,680 -28% 2213 132,089,425 6 8 5 Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer Fox 4,239,993 -54% 2618 123,881,586 4 9 9 Sicko LGF/Alliance 3,600,179 -20% 702 11,452,560 3 10 7 Ocean's Thirteen WB 3,525,366 -42% 2102 109,145,316 5 11 8 Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End BVI 3,008,962 -39% 1869 301,725,691 7 12 10 Evening Focus 2,374,904 -32% 979 8,378,433 2 13 11 Shrek the Third Par 1,537,841 -42% 1421 316,740,255 8 14 12 Surf's Up Sony 991,175 -59% 1458 56,042,318 5 15 13 Nancy Drew WB 912,495 -51% 1124 23,247,916 4 16 14 A Mighty Heart Par Vantage 647,288 -59% 651 8,404,897 3 17 16 La Vie en Rose TVA/Picturehouse 604,478 -1% 163 5,872,544 17 18 20 Once Fox Searchlight 439,648 15% 132 4,563,755 8 19 15 Nitro Alliance 418,625 -52% 122 1,905,863 2 20 18 Waitress Fox Searchlight 387,020 -17% 227 17,447,571 10 21 17 Spider-Man 3 Sony 303,553 -50% 310 334,344,283 10 22 23 Disturbia Par 302,010 51% 283 79,305,519 13 23 21 Wild Hogs BV 250,034 -12% 284 167,402,930 19 24 25 You Kill Me IFC 246,501 61% 63 828,994 3 25 22 Paris je t'aime First Look 206,052 1% 103 4,176,797 10 26 19 Mr. Brooks MGM 145,780 -66% 218 28,019,651 6 27 28 Deep Sea 3-D WB 142,455 10% 35 29,358,239 71 28 24 Blades of Glory Par 140,803 -21% 234 118,153,533 15 29 New Rescue Dawn MGM 110,326 - 6 167,872 1 30 31 Are We Done Yet? Sony 98,144 -8% 174 49,811,781 14 31 26 Apne Shemaroo 82,544 -43% 43 327,516 2 32 30 The Invisible BV 80,376 -28% 151 20,436,987 11 33 44 Broken English Magnolia 75,390 114% 16 231,821 3 34 62 Delta Farce Lions Gate 73,686 396% 143 8,345,200 8 35 36 Golden Door Miramax 70,928 11% 28 601,816 7 36 33 Hot Fuzz Focus 68,566 -20% 140 23,472,882 11 37 34 Sivaji Ayngaran 53,619 -32% 10 614,183 4 38 32 Meet the Robinsons BV 51,675 -46% 71 96,697,389 15 39 New Joshua Fox Searchlight 51,233 - 6 51,233 1 40 39 Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia Sky High 46,177 -20% 10 554,261 14 41 29 28 Weeks Later Fox 43,474 -38% 98 28,472,453 9 42 40 Wild Safari 3-D nWave 41,950 -10% 10 14,034,204 118 43 45 Fracture New Line 40,812 17% 104 38,932,038 12 44 41 Paprika Sony Classics 40,519 -8% 33 642,641 6 45 35 300 WB 36,337 -47% 70 210,592,590 18 46 59 Gypsy Caravan Shadow 34,953 131% 14 98,882