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

December 23, 2007 Weekend Estimates Limited Releases Domestic Market Share Charlie, Sweeney & Dewey vs. Alvin, Wilie & Nick National Treasure: Book of Secrets led pre-Christmas movie shopping with an estimated $46.2 million. However, while the news was good for last week's chart toppers I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks, initial biz for the glut of seasonal debs ranged from problematic to dire. The star laden Charlie Wilson's War bowed to $9.8 million while the morbid musical Sweeney Todd grossed $9.3. Trailing them were the romantic P.S. I Love You with $6.6 million and Walk Hard trod in with a discordant $4.1 million. The frame also saw OK bows for a pair of Bollywood entries, Taare Zameen Par and Welcome and a dull response for the skiing doc Steep. Juno expanded well while the initial platform for The Kite Runner was encouraging. The portal into holiday film going is going to be precarious and erratic with holidays creating daily shifts that will resemble a fever chart. The brightest spot is that the Tuesday placement of Christmas and New Years will extend the season through to January 7, 2008. Still, the initial thrust indicates several films lack the necessary traction to sustain the rigors of a crowded marketplace. The fact that weekend box office exceeds last year's business is deceptive as more films debuted this year and volume rather than individual potency is a key factor to the increase along with the week day placement of the calendar holiday. National Treasure 2 bowed Friday to $17.1 million with the anticipation of a $50 million plus weekend. But its Saturday business dipped 9% slowing its momentum. Similarly Sweeney Todd took a 26% drop; P.S. I Love You declined 10% and Walk Hard lessened its pace by 9%. Only Charlie Wilson got an uptick of 32%. Overall weekend revenues chimed in with approximately $163 million for a slim 1% boost from seven days earlier. It was 36% improved from 2006 when Night at the Museum opened to $30.4 million. Through December 23 domestic box office for the year passed $9.22 billion; inching up to last year's $9.23 billion total for the year. The remaining eight days of 2007 will see improved box office results but admissions won't be much better than flat. The National Treasure sequel appears sufficiently strong to weather the holiday as are Legend and Alvin and his freres. Of greater concern to the industry are the fortunes of Charlie and Sweeney; both high profile/budget and gross participation vehicles. The former at least appears to be getting an assist from word-of-mouth but the adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical could well evolve as more specialized than mainstream. However, the shocker of the frame was the well received spoof musical bio Walk Hard that looked like a strong candidate for sleeper success. In a season sparse on comedy the film seemed like a natural but its abject rejection appears devoid of a second wind. The beneficiary of Hard's (bad) luck now appears to be Juno, the surprisingly appealing black comic yarn of teen pregnancy. It continues to expand beyond niche crowds and if it can maintain commercial potency when it goes wide next weekend it seems headed for the holiday season's unexpected hit status. Still to be revealed is the picture (s) that will capitalize on year end kudos a la last year's Pan's Labyrinth and Babel. With the broadcast fate of so many awards shows still uncertain, the inter-relationship between gold and glory has been playing out erratically much to the chagrin of studio wranglers as well as those that dole out honors. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - December 21-23, 2007 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 46.2 (12,060) - 3832 46.2 I Am Legend WB 34.4 (9,510) -55% 3620 137.7 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox 29.1 (8,320) -34% 3499 85 Charlie Wilson's War Uni 9.8 (3,820) - 2575 9.8 Sweeney Todd Par 9.3 (7,430) - 1249 9.3 P.S. I Love You WB 6.6 (2,680) - 2454 6.6 The Golden Compass New Line 4.4 (1,500) -50% 2953 48.9 Enchanted BV 4.2 (1,530) -24% 2752 98.4 Walk Hard Sony 4.1 (1,540) - 2650 4.1 Juno Fox Searchlight 3.5 (11,480) 144% 304 6.5 Atonement Focus 2.0 (6,630) 9% 297 5.8 No Country for Old Men Miramax 1.7 (1,420) -39% 1222 36.7 The Kite Runner Par Vantage 1.2 (3,080) 146% 377 1.9 The Perfect Holiday FreeStyle 1.1 (860) -53% 1247 4.6 This Christmas Sony .92 (1,050) -59% 879 47.7 Fred Claus WB .78 (670) -65% 1155 70.6 August Rush WB .47 (670) -73% 701 29.5 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $159.30 - - - % Change (Last Year) 36% - - - % Change (Last Week) 1% - - - Also debuting/expanding Taare Zameen Par UTV .30 (4,330) - 70 0.3 The Savages Fox Searchlight .21 (3,520) 118% 60 0.79 Welcome  Studio 18 .21 (5,180) - 40 0.21 Diving Bell and the Butterfly Miramax .11 (3,890) 91% 28 0.4 Steep Sony Classics 22,800 (1,340) - 17 0.02 Top Releases - To December 20, 2007* Title  Distributor  Gross Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End BV 962,303,742 Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix WB 943,920,441 Spider-Man 3 Sony 890,976,387 Shrek the Third Par 798,117,586 Transformers Par 706,517,505 Ratatouille BV 616,019,260 The Simpsons Movie Fox 525,671,887 300 WB 455,946,644 The Bourne Ultimatum Uni 441,830,793 Night at the Museum * Fox 394,697,927 Live Free or Die Hard Fox 380,932,208 Ocean's 13 WB 310,940,968 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Fox 286,723,816 Wild Hogs BV 253,658,370 Rush Hour 3 New Line 250,236,551 Ghost Rider Sony 229,847,486 Mr. Bean's Holiday Uni/Wk Title 225,254,813 Knocked Up Uni  218,921,224 The Pursuit of Happyness * Sony 209,859,635 Hairspray New Line 198,089,793 * does not include 2006 box office   Domestic Market Share - December 20, 2007 Distributor (releases) Gross (Millions) Mkt Share  Paramount (20) 1466.6 16.50% Sony (28) 1223.1 13.80% Buena Vista (19) 1190.3 13.40% Warner Bros. (29) 1181.5 13.30% Universal (19) 1057.3 11.90% Fox (21) 828.8 9.30% New Line (14) 461.7 5.20% Lions Gate (20) 369.1 4.20% MGM (25) 347.6 3.90% Miramax (13) 114.1 1.30% Focus (9) 110.1 1.20% Fox Searchlight (14) 103.9 1.20% Picturehouse (7) 56.9 0.70% Par Vantage (7) 53 0.60% Other * (299) 310.7 3.50% * none greater than 0.45% 8766.2 100.00%