..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

June 22, 2008 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Top Global Grossers Laff Track The battle of the clowns proved lopsided as the debut of the big screen Get Smart easily out performed the opening of The Love Guru. Get Smart topped weekend viewing choices with an estimated $38.3 million while the Mike Myers untranscendental amusement ranked fourth with a $14.1 million bow. The session was light on new limited openers with Kit Kittredge: An American Girl registering a boisterous $232,000 gross from a mere five venues. The British multicultural drama Brick Lane had good returns of $47,700 on seven screens and American independent Expired ticked down to $5,240 in a Manhattan solo. There was also a hearty expansion for Mongol that generated $750,000 from 94 sites. Overall business remained comparably better than 2007 moviegoing while it ebbed back from the immediate prior frame. While critics savaged both of the new national debuts, tracking indicated there was still strong interest in the antics of Agent 86, Maxwell Smart. Friday exits showed ticket sales skewing 60% toward plus 25s with a relatively even gender split. The film slightly out-performed industry expectations of $35 million but even with a general paucity of comedies in the marketplace there's not a lot of hope for on-going sustainability. If Smart reaction was lukewarm, The Love Guru response verged on the virulent. Industry trepidation had been growing since a teaser preview was shown at ShoWest in March and a lot of ink had been split about the sagacity of two comedies facing off on the same date. Some industry pundits speculated Guru was being blown off in the summer heat rather than repositioned in a possibly more favorable late summer/early fall play slot. Paramount may have been licking its wounds on The Love Guru but it got a hefty consolation prize as its release schedule accumulated to $1 billion on Sunday. In addition to 2008 bragging rights, it enters the record books as the fastest to that benchmark; lopping off more than a month from Sony's prior pace setter. Reaction was however tempered in light of last week's announcement of independent investment in DreamWorks that has stoked reports of the company's exit from the studio before the end of the year. Weekend business inched toward $160 million that represented a 22% decline from seven days earlier. However it was 7% improved from 2007 when the debut of another Steve Carell vehicle, Evan Almighty, led box office sales with a $31.2 million debut followed by the unexpectedly potent $20.6 million bow of 1408. The American Girl industry of books, clothing, et al came to the screen with Kit Kittredge and peeked industry eyebrows with its $46,800 screen average. The film's limited exposure and planned slow roll out surprised observers in light of the franchise's built-in appeal and whispering ensued that the approaching October absorption of distributor Picturehouse into big WB may have curtailed close scrutiny on the release. The evaporating company was also active with Mongol that added 89 playdates and maintained close to an $8,000 per engagement average. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - June 20-22, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Get Smart WB 38.3 (9,790) - 3911 38.3 The Incredible Hulk Uni 21.7 (6,190) -61% 3508 96.6 Kung Fu Panda Par 21.5 (5,300) -36% 4053 155.4 The Love Guru Par 14.1 (4,680) - 3012 14.1 The Happening Fox 10.0 (3,340) -67% 2986 50.3 Indian Jones & Kingdom of Crystal Skull Par 8.3 (2,620) -44% 3171 290.7 Don't Mess with the Zohan Sony 7.0 (2,130) -57% 3278 83.8 Sex and the City WB 6.4 (2,630) -34% 2442 132.3 Iron Man Par 4.0 (2,110) -28% 1912 304.8 The Strangers Uni/Alliance 1.9 (1,190) -53% 1578 49.5 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 1.7 (1,140) -48% 1462 135.4 What Happens in Vegas Fox .75 (1,060) -55% 708 77.5 Mongol Picturehouse .75 (7,980) 570% 94 1.1 The Visitor Overture .38 (1,700) -9% 224 7.2 Baby Mama Uni .24 (800) -45% 302 59.3 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Picturehouse .23 (46,800) - 5 0.23 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni .19 (760) -34% 253 62.4 Forbidden Kingdom Lions Gate .14 (930) 112% 155 52.2 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $136.40 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 7% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -22% - - - Also debuting/expanding The Fall Roadside Attraction .12 (1,880) -20% 65 1.6 Young People F*cking Maple Pics .08 (2,410) -26% 34 0.27 Brick Lane Sony Classics 47,700 (6,810) - 7 0.05 Expired IFC 5,240 (5,240) - 1 0.01 Domestic Market Share - To June 12, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share Paramount (11) 879.3 21.80% Fox (12) 584.5 14.50% Warner Bros. (15) 574.4 14.20% Sony (15) 435.5 10.80% Buena Vista (9) 402.9 10.00% Universal (10) 317.9 7.90% Lions Gate (8) 203.1 5.00% Fox Searchlight (5) 150.1 3.70% Par Vantage (8) 71.5 1.80% New Line (4) 61.8 1.50% Focus (4) 59.9 1.50% Miramax (5) 47.9 1.20% MGM (9) 46.3 1.20% Summit (2) 34.9 0.90% Overture (3) 27.1 0.70% Other * (154) 135 3.30% * none greater than 0.45% 4032.1 100.00% Top Global Grossers - To June 19, 2008 Title Distributor Gross Iron Man Par 300,785,869 Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Par 282,420,731 Horton Hears a Who Fox 153,493,503 Kung Fu Panda Par 133,896,159 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 133,758,371 Sex and the City WB 125,920,375 Juno * Fox Searchlight 115,568,583 10,000 B.C.  WB 94,784,201 The Bucket List * WB 92,781,554 National Treasure: Book of Secrets * BV 86,700,433 21 Sony 82,629,719 Cloverfield Par 80,048,433 Jumper Fox 79,914,335 You Don't Mess with the Zohan Sony 76,855,203 27 Dresses Fox 76,808,654 What Happens in Vegas Fox 76,751,534 The Incredible Hulk Uni 74,919,370 Vantage Point Sony 73,083,080 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 71,748,431 Fool's Gold WB 70,321,498 * does not include 2007 box office