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

August 24, 2008 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Top Domestic Releases Slow and Sure A quartet of new films failed to topple Tropic Thunder from its seat at the top of the heap of weekend movie going. The psycho-comedy edged out freshman entries The House Bunny and Death Race with an estimated $16.1 million. Bunny ranked second with $14.8 million and the bronze went to the road rage action with $12.2 million. The other newcomers failed to click with the human comedy The Longshots living up to its moniker with a $4.2 million gross and the antic musical comedy The Rocker finishing with a grim $2.6 million. More encouraging was the limited bow of fest fave Hamlet 2 with a $4,400 average and $450,000 box office. In niche and exclusive play a couple of debuting non-fiction films played well including the debt related I.O.U.S.A. coining $69,200 at 18 sites and the flood relief-themed Trouble the Water grossing $28,100 at three venues. The inspirational The Errand of Angels had a fair $37,300 from 16 regional openings and the Manhattan exclusive of critically acclaimed Momma's Man had a potent $13,400 bow. Audiences continued to ebb as the season waned and one has to wonder whether the upcoming Labor Day glut of new movies will end summer with a bang or a whimper. Most industry trackers were predicting a significantly stronger debut for both The House Bunny and Death Race with the former expected to lead the field with an $18 million to $20 million opening salvo. Reviews of the lark of a Playmate turned sorority den mother were upbeat and the picture, as anticipated, drew largely from a young female crowd … just not as many as had been perceived. The very loose remake of Death Race was roundly dismissed by critics and response from avids turned out to be tepid. There was similar soft response for The Longshots while The Rocker arrived commercially D.O.A. Weekend box office barely managed to exceed five figures with an overall three-day pushing close to $102 million. That translated into a 19% dip from last weekend as well as a 6% decline from 2007. Last year the second weekend of Superbad led with an $18 million box office and debuts of Mr. Bean's Holiday and War ranked fourth and fifth with respective b.o. of $9.9 million and $9.8 million. The August erosion now has summer 2008 ahead of last year at this point of the season by 0.1%. The next eight days aren't likely to generate a demonstrably change from last year's $4.17 billion tally. However, with an increasing number of premium priced large format and 3-D movies in the current season, attendance has experienced a significant drop and one can expect aggressive industry spinning about the May-August commercial record in the coming weeks. Summer's other major fatality has been alternative fare and while there have been a number of successes, even the most resilient have been pushed off screen by the vigorous flow of mainstream and niche movies. The few and the sturdy have truly had to earn expansion playdates and maintaining potent per screens has hobbled virtually every picture that's found itself desperately to build a national audience. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals - August 22-24, 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 22-24, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Tropic Thunder Par 16.1 (4,790) -38% 3352 65.6 The House Bunny Sony 14.8 (5,460) - 2714 14.8 Death Race Uni 12.2 (4,830) - 2532 12.2 The Dark Knight WB 10.3 (3,250) -37% 3163 489.2 Star Wars: The Clone Wars WB 5.5 (1,600) -62% 3452 24.9 Pinapple Express Sony 5.2 (1,990) -47% 2620 73.6 Mirrors Fox 4.8 (1,800) -57% 2664 20 Mamma Mia! Uni 4.2 (1,810) -31% 2326 124.4 The Longshots MGM 4.2 (2,010) - 2089 4.2 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Empire Uni 4.0 (1,650) -51% 2422 93.7 Vicky Christina Barcelona MGM 2.8 (4,020) -26% 692 8.4 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 WB 2.7 (1,250) -53% 2170 38.2 The Rocker Fox 2.6 (930) - 2784 3.6 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB 2.2 (2,080) -35% 1051 91.9 Step Brothers Sony 2.2 (1,370) -53% 1639 95.6 Fly Me to the Moon Summit 1.3 (2,420) -31% 540 4.1 Wall-E BV .89 (1,130) -52% 785 216.2 Bottle Shock FreeStyle .63 (1,940) 61% 324 1.65 Hancock Sony .58 (990) -66% 588 226.3 Hamlet 2 Focus .45 (4,400) - 103 0.45 Elegy IDP .45 (5,440) 722% 83 0.7 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $97.20 - - % Change (Last Year) - -6% - % Change (Last Week) - -19% - Also debuting/expanding Brideshead Reisited Miramax .42 (950) -43% 444 5.5 Man on Wire Magnolia .16 (2,530) -24% 64 0.95 I.O.U.S.A. Roadside At. 69,200 (3,840) - 18 0.07 The Errand of Angels Excel 37,300 (2,330) - 16 0.04 Trouble the Water Zeitgeist 28,100 (9,370) - 3 0.03 Mumbai Meri Jaan UTV 13,500 (1,690) - 8 0.01 Momma's Man Kino 13,400 (13,400) - 1 0.01 Domestic Market Share - To August 21, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share Warner Bros. (20) 1371.5 20.70% Paramount (13) 1167.8 17.70% Universal (15) 884.5 13.40% Sony (18) 872.7 13.20% Fox (18) 734.6 11.10% Buena Vista (11) 647.5 9.80% Lions Gate (9) 204.3 3.10% Fox Searchlight (5) 150.9 2.30% Paramount Vantage (10) 72.7 1.10% New Line (4) 61.8 0.90% Focus (5) 60.1 0.90% Miramax (6) 53.2 0.80% MGM (10) 52.1 0.80% Summit (3) 37.6 0.60% Picturehouse (6) 35.9 0.50% Other * (221) 204.5 3.10% * none greater than 0.45% 6611.7 100.00% Top Limited Releases - To August 21, 2008 Title Distributor Gross Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 12,590,147 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 12,413,165 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 12,347,255 U2 3D nWave 9,339,861 The Visitor Overture 9,288,593 In Bruges Focus 7,800,824 The Orphanage Picture/Christal 6,894,612 Mongol Picturehouse 5,644,686 Vicky Christina Barcelona MGM 5,566,474 The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 5,484,365 Shine a Light Par Vantage 5,421,098 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Mrmx 5,064,793 Brideshead Reisited Mrmx 5,058,765 The Savages Fox Searchlight 4,795,616 Persepolis Sony Classics 4,266,064 Dolphins and Whales 3D 3D Entertainment 4,227,773 Young@Heart Fox Searchlight 3,921,678 Then She Found Me Thinkfilm 3,731,212 Jodhaa Akbar UTV 3,440,718 Tell No One Music Box 3,432,807 Cruising Bar 2 Alliance 3,253,833