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

August 17, 2008 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Top Domestic Releases Weather Report The Hollywood parody Tropical Thunder took top box office honors with weekend movie goers providing an estimated $25.6 million for its debut. The session also saw a softish $15.3 million bow for the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars that ranked third and a more predictable $11.1 million fourth place finish for the thriller Mirrors. The session also a number of limited wide openers with Woody Allen's Vicky Christina Barcelona grossing a respectable $3.7 million from 692 adobes and fair returns of $2 million for the 3D import Fly Me to the Moon. However, the comedy Henry Poole is Here had a moribund $770,000 from 527 sites. Additionally the freshman crowd in niche and alternative arenas included two new Bollywood entries with the highly anticipated Bachna Ae Haseeno generating a strong $320,000 opening while God Tussi Great Ho fizzled with a $71,000 box office. There was also poor response of $26,100 for Le Cas Roberte on 22 Quebec screens but initial potency of $17,400 from two exclusives for French import A Girl Cut in Two. With Labor Day looming and summer fast fading, distributors have ramped up release schedules in hopes of generating some coin and quickly burying films they see as commercially fungible. Don't expect many new openers to stick around long into the fall season. The late season bow of Tropic Thunder came up short of industry expectations that it would have comparable box office opening strength to last weekend's Pineapple Express. Critical reviews were upbeat to the anarchic spoof but with production and marketing costs reported at about $150 million the film can ill afford sharp drops in its domestic gross. And the slim edge of profitability will weigh heavy on international response. Weekend revenues inched toward $127 million for a modest 4% bump from seven days earlier. However, continuing the recent trend, it experienced a slight 3% ebb from 2007 when the debut of Superbad led with its $33.1 million debut. Further erosion could see summer 2008 box office a virtual carbon copy result with last year and eradicate any hope for a boost in admissions. The Dark Knight advanced to second position among all-time box office grossers this weekend but studio estimates that it will final at about $525 million leave it significantly short of the Titanic record. Coincidently while the non-Jedi Knight passed Star Wars, the latter film's animated episode sputtered following strong Friday matinees. Exit polls indicated a strong family audience but scant interest from series' fans. Following strategic festival screenings, the advance word for Vicky Christina Barcelona was upbeat with predictions of a more commercial run than the typical Woody Allen movie. Opening numbers certainly hold out the promise of a gross rivaling the $23 million domestic tally of Match Point. Industry eyes were also paying keen attention to the opening of the 3D digital Fly Me to the Moon (it also played in about 20 Imax locations). The Belgium-produced animated film did respectably but with so many in the industry pounding the drums for stereoscopic movies as the answer to the commercial doldrums, this particular entry came up short. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals - August 15-17, 2008 Title Distrib Weekend % Change* Theaters Cume Wks 1 New Indiana Jones & Kingdom of Crystal Skull Par 126,917,373 - 4260 151,958,445 1 2 1 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 29,810,163 -59% 3929 97,855,173 2 3 2 Iron Man Par 26,111,130 -36% 3915 258,278,546 4 4 3 What Happens in Vegas Fox 11,363,713 -34% 3188 56,609,605 3 5 4 Speed Racer WB 5,272,202 -51% 3112 37,481,539 3 6 5 Made of Honor Sony 4,240,435 -29% 2393 39,901,734 4 7 6 Baby Mama Uni 4,208,105 -28% 2158 53,016,250 5 8 7 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni 2,269,775 -36% 1073 58,798,745 6 9 8 Harold & Kumar Escape Guantanamo WB 1,163,460 -54% 750 36,152,416 5 10 10 The Visitor Overture 940,037 8% 270 4,591,262 7 11 15 Horton Hears a Who Fox 625,105 16% 488 152,076,723 11 12 9 Forbidden Kingdom Lions Gate 556,015 -61% 487 51,358,618 6 13 12 Then She Found Me Thinkfilm/TVA 503,004 -15% 150 2,181,214 5 14 17 Young@Heart Fox Searchlight 425,820 -3% 212 2,510,297 7 15 11 Nim's Island Fox 397,290 -49% 426 45,794,492 8 16 14 21 Sony 393,720 -24% 386 82,704,535 9 17 19 College Road Trip BV 360,438 7% 283 44,275,094 12 18 18 Drillbit Taylor Par 246,197 7% 218 32,537,768 10 19 21 Son of Rambow Par Vantage 323,617 2% 152 939,530 4 20 13 Prom Night Sony/Alliance 253,294 -54% 287 43,818,159 7 21 31 Roman de Gare IDP 201,142 44% 35 506,277 4 22 26 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 181,517 2% 48 13,090,865 34 23 30 Dolphins and Whales 3-D 3D Entertainment 139,964 7% 14 1,856,577 14 24 34 Before the Rains Roadside Attract. 139,382 4% 41 352,614 3 25 20 88 Minutes Sony  133,532 -60% 150 17,159,216 6 26 22 10,000 B.C. WB 132,053 -49% 187 94,549,440 12 27 28 The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 129,548 -18% 107 5,039,883 14 28 39 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 129,088 50% 74 71,614,175 15 29 23 Street Kings Fox Searchlight 122,740 -50% 119 26,141,878 7 30 25 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 111,242 -46% 87 219,884,740 22 31 27 Leatherheads Uni 110,115 -42% 182 31,115,515 8 32 72 Superhero Movie MGM 108,747 316% 153 25,529,584 9 33 53 Reprise Miramax 107,885 72% 14 181,566 2 34 New Bujjigaadu: Made in Chennai Tollywood 106,170 - 24 106,170 1 35 33 The Ruins Par 97,135 -20% 123 17,262,818 8 36 47 Priceless IDP 92,093 14% 38 1,294,507 9 37 36 U2 3D nWave 88,481 -10% 10 8,121,948 18 38 38 Jumper Fox 87,143 -6% 64 79,834,745 15 39 48 Shine a Light Par Vantage 79,510 21% 38 5,223,448 7 40 16 Redbelt Sony Classics 75,342 -85% 82 2,214,484 4 41 24 La Piege Americain Alliance 73,305 -63% 44 302,958 2 42 45 The Fall Roadside Attract. 67,759 -24% 20 280,010 3 43 55 The Bank Job Lions Gate 66,085 17% 122 29,953,137 12 44 37 Smart People Miramax 65,266 -42% 54 9,454,310 7 45 44 The Bucket List WB 56,379 -33% 69 93,409,577 22 46 New The Children of Huang Shi Sony Classice 55,760 - 7 55,760 1 47 54 The Stone Angel Alliance 50,928 -1% 10 220,675 3 48 52 My Blueberry Nights Weinstein Co. 48,825 -31% 59 724,907 8 49 51 Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 48,557 -34% 63 12,432,513 10 50 New War Inc. First Look 47,933 - 3 47,933 1 51 32 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed Rocky Mountain 46,314 -66% 83 7,598,071 6 52 63 Magnificent Desolation Imax 44,632 24% 8 23,906,339 139 53 60 Deep Sea 3-D WB 43,530 11% 10 35,337,346 117 54 56 Flawless Magnolia 41,587 -22% 40 1,109,252 9 55 42 Fugitive Pieces Maximum/IDP 40,310 -53% 23 404,162 4 56 61 Where Love Begins ABS 40,228 0% 4 108,521 4 57 66 OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies Music Box 38,220 8% 13 119,890 3 58 35 How Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer Maya 37,993 -69% 41 158,142 2 59 43 Step Up 2 the Streets BV 36,197 -48% 19 58,053,980 15 60 58 Space Station 3-D Imax 35,729 -21% 8 75,146,799 318 61 57 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 35,511 -35% 59 12,349,205 12 62 29 Dans une galaxie pres de chez vous 2 TVA 33,295 -75% 45 1,665,829 6 63 46 Fool's Gold WB 33,154 -56% 58 70,224,196 16 64 73 The Band's Visit Sony Classics 32,086 35% 35 2,958,019 16 65 41 Bhoothnath Eros 31,619 -64% 35 507,651 3 66 40 Mama est chez les coiffeurs Equinoxe 30,886 -66% 42 451,464 4 67 49 Never Back Down Summit 30,742 -55% 21 24,814,367 10 68 65 Roving Mars BV 30,530 -11% 10 8,764,411 122 69 64 In Bruges Focus 29,874 -17% 29 7,643,742 16 70 93 Surfwise Magnolia 27,974 238% 4 53,570 3 71 69 My Father My Lord Kino 26,740 -15% 7 61,176 2 72 88 Standard Operating Procedure Sony Classics 26,267 71% 18 154,451 5 73 50 Vantage Point Sony 25,473 -63% 34 73,048,435 14 74 70 Up the Yangtze KinoSmith/Zeit 24,713 -13% 10 665,018 16 75 71 Edge of Heaven Metropole 24,377 2% 4 103,320 4 76 59 Meet the Browns Lions Gate 24,163 -48% 35 42,131,849 10 77 79 Jellyfish Zeitgeist 22,598 20% 9 199,735 8 78 80 The Life Before Her Eyes Magnolia 21,246 19% 11 249,395 6 79 78 Mister Lonely IFC 19,647 -15% 8 100,720 4 80 62 Shutter Fox 19,073 -51% 30 25,830,449 10 81 75 Flight of the Red Balloon IFC 18,476 -21% 12 317,773 8 Source: MCN/EDI   Estimates - August 15-17, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Tropic Thunder Par 25.6 (7,710) 3319 36.6 The Dark Knight WB 16.8 (4,690) -36% 3590 471.5 Star Wars: The Clone Wars WB 15.3 (4,440) 3452 15.3 Mirrors Fox 11.1 (4,180) 2664 11.1 Pinapple Express Sony 9.9 (3,230) -57% 3072 62.8 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Empire Uni 8.4 (2,490) -49% 3363 86.4 Mamma Mia! Uni 6.4 (2,320) -22% 2771 116.3 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 WB 5.9 (2,170) -45% 2714 32.1 Step Brothers Sony 4.9 (1,840) -47% 2648 90.8 Vicky Christina Barcelona MGM 3.7 (5,300) - 692 3.7 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB 3.4 (2,430) -30% 1405 88.1 Fly Me to the Moon Summit 2.0 (4,490) - 452 2 Wall-E BV 1.8 (1,290) -42% 1403 214.1 Hancock Sony 1.7 (1,350) -48% 1277 225 Swing Vote BV 1.1 (890) -64% 1281 14.7 Space Chimps Fox .83 (1,080) -53% 768 27.6 Henry Poole is Here Overture .77 (1,460) - 527 0.77 Brideshead Reisited Miramax .75 (1,500) -29% 501 4.7 Hellboy II: The Golden Army Uni .55 (1,140) -56% 484 74.6 Singh is Kinng Studio 18 .39 (3,610) -67% 108 1.9 Bottle Shock FreeStyle .39 (3,320) 41% 117 0.8 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $120.90 - - - % Change (Last Year) - -3% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 4% - - - Also debuting/expanding Bachna Ae Haseeno Yash Raj .32 (4,320) 75 0.32 Man on Wire Magnolia .21 (3,230) -23% 65 0.79 American Teen Par Ventage .10 (930) -26% 105 0.65 God Tussi Great Ho Eros 71,000 (1,030) - 69 0.07 Le Cas Roberge Alliance 26,100 (1,190) - 22 0.03 A Girl Cut in Two IFC 17,400 (8,700) - 2 0.02 Domestic Market Share - To August 7, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share Warner Bros. (19) 1247.5 20.00% Paramount (12) 1114.9 18.40% Universal (15) 820.1 13.20% Sony (18) 793.2 12.70% Fox (16) 711.3 11.40% Buena Vista (11) 632.3 10.10% Lions Gate (9) 204.3 3.20% Fox Searchlight (5) 150.9 2.40% Paramount Vantage (10) 72.3 1.10% New Line (4) 61.8 1.00% Focus (5) 60.1 1.00% Miramax (6) 50.4 0.80% MGM (9) 46.5 0.70% Picturehouse (6) 35.1 0.50% Summit (2) 34.9 0.50% Other * (205) 190.7 3.00% * none greater than 0.45% 6226.3 100.00% Top Domestic Releases - To July 31, 2008 Title * Distributor Gross The Dark Knight WB 351,086,846 Iron Man Par 315,107,589 Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Par 313,972,312 Hancock Sony 210,795,466 Kung Fu Panda Par 209,854,538 Wall-E BV 199,474,897 Horton Hears a Who Fox 154,423,552 Sex and the City WB 151,169,251 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 140,415,913 The Incredible Hulk Uni 132,805,330 Wanted Uni 130,080,115 Get Smart WB 125,506,819 Juno * Fox Searchlight 115,568,583 You Don't Mess with the Zohan Sony 98,440,404 10,000 B.C.  WB 94,819,450 The Bucket List * WB 92,781,554 National Treasure: Book of Secrets * BV 86,700,433 21 Sony 82,823,812 Jumper Fox 80,172,128 Cloverfield Par 80,048,433