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

September 28, 2008 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Top Domestic Releases Fly Like an Eagle There was little ocular strain as audiences focused on the anxiety-raising Eagle Eye with a potent debut estimated at $29.5 million. The weekend leader's closest competition came from another newcomer, the romantically drenched Nights of Rodanthe that grossed $13.7 million. Two other films bowed nationally with the uplifting drama Fireproof preaching effectively to $6.4 million to rank fourth overall while Spike Lee's Second World War-set Miracle at St. Anna was commercially MIA with $3.4 million. New titles opening in limited and regional release were generally soft including the inspirational Forever Strong that bowed in 244 theaters to $250,000 and another independent All Roads Lead Home that tallied to $30,500 from 35 engagements. Slightly better was the unconventional road movie Humbolt County with a $22,700 box office at 10 outposts and Choke, a darkly ironic con game, that totaled up to $1.3 million at 434 locations. The Lucky Ones is the latest victim of the Iraq War with its returning vets holding little ground with a $162,000 gross at 425 venues. Only a couple of non-fiction portraits showed promise in exclusive premieres - the music-themed Wild Combination attracted $11,800 while the political inside Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story had a $5,200 box office. The onslaught of new titles bolstered the box office by 13% from last week and 11% from one year back. In 2007 the debuts of The Game Plan and The Kingdom topped the charts with respective initial biz of $22.9 million and $17.1 million. Tracking was strong on Eagle Eye, a nail biter about strangers blackmailed into an assassination plot by a mysterious, disembodied voice. The twisty path to success included 85 Imax engagements that accounted for about 6% of the gross from 2.5% of its commercial bookings. The film pretty much corralled younger and more avid viewers; leaving little room for other incoming product to secure spill over from older target bases. Still, the bedrock was sufficiently sturdy for Nights at Rodanthe, based on a book by the author of The Notebook and featuring the same sort of passionate longing as Message in a Bottle. The film effectively tapped into an older, distaff audience. The weekend surprise was Fireproof, a values-oriented saga of a wobbly marriage from the company that made the indie hit Facing the Giants. Marketed via faith-based channels, it largely eluded the radar of mainstream pundits … but not the target crowd. The largely ignored sector has proven to be a sizeable and vocal niche, but its limits were exposed by the head-to-head bow of Forever Strong, which should have found a less competitive berth. The session also saw an effective expansion of the period drama The Duchess and OK holds for the western saga Appaloosa, which broadens next weekend. Spike Lee appeared to be recycling the soldiers of Glory with his Second World War black regiment in Miracle of St. Anna. But neither the critics nor the buyers were inspired by the tale. There was an even greater thunderous silence for The Lucky Ones, a generally well reviewed yarn of a trio of Iraq vets on leave from the conflict. There's no indication that audiences and filmmakers will be in sync on this type of material in the immediate future. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - September 26-28, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Eagle Eye Par 29.5 (8,390) - 3510 29.5 Nights at Rodanthe WB 13.7 (5,080) - 2704 13.7 Lakeview Terrace Sony 6.9 (2,810) -54% 2467 25.6 Fireproof IDP 6.4 (7,620) 839 6.4 Burn After Reading Focus 5.9 (2,240) -46% 2649 45.3 Igor MGM 5.4 (2,320) -30% 2341 14.3 My Best Friend's Girl Lions Gate 3.7 (1,410) -55% 2636 14.4 The Miracle of St. Anna BV 3.4 (2,850) - 1185 3.4 Righteous Kill Overture 3.3 (1,090) -56% 3011 34.3 The Family That Preys Lions Gate 3.1 (1,940) -57% 1604 32.7 Ghost Town Par 2.9 (1,890) -43% 1512 9.1 The Women Picturehouse 2.6 (970) -53% 2642 24 The Dark Knight WB 1.6 (1,160) -44% 1406 524.4 Choke Fox Searchlight 1.3 (3,090) - 434 1.3 The House Bunny Sony 1.2 (620) -56% 1918 47.3 Tropic Thunder Par 1.2 (860) -55% 1354 108.7 Vicky Christina Barcelona MGM .66 (1,490) -31% 443 20.4 Mamma Mia! Uni .55 (770) -47% 717 142.2 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB .54 (1,060) -30% 510 99.8 The Duchess Par Vantage .53 (9,640) 179% 55 0.8 Fly Me to the Moon Summit .52 (780) -33% 662 11.5 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $94.90 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 11% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 13% - - - Also debuting/expanding Forever Strong Crane .25 (1,020) - 244 0.25 The Lucky Ones Lions Gate .16 (380) - 425 0.16 Appaloosa WB .14 (10,070) -43% 14 0.47 Hashar Eros 39,900 (2,850) - 14 0.04 All Roads Lead Home Waldo West 30,500 (730) - 35 0.03 Humbolt County Magnolia 22,700 (2,270) - 10 0.02 Wild Combination Plexfilm 11,800 (11,800) - 1 0.01 Shoot on Sight Aron Govil 10,400 (270) - 38 0.01 Smother Variance 8,300 (330) - 25 0.01 Boogie Man: Lee Atwater Story True Indie 5,200 (5,200) - 1 0.01 Domestic Market Share - To September 25, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Mrkt Share Warner Bros. (22) 1451.1 20.00% Paramount (20) 1237.7 17.10% Sony (20) 967.3 13.40% Universal (16) 955.9 13.20% Fox (19) 779.1 10.80% Buena Vista (11) 654.1 9.00% Lions Gate (13) 273.3 3.80% Fox Searchlight (5) 150.9 2.10% Focus (6) 104.2 1.40% MGM (13) 90.8 1.30% Overture (6) 85.7 1.20% Paramount Vantage (11) 73.2 1.00% New Line (4) 61.8 0.90% Picturehouse (7) 57.8 0.80% Miramax (6) 54.6 0.70% Summit (3) 46.1 0.60% Other * (249) 197.9 2.70% * none greater than 0.4% 7241.5 100.00% Top Limited Releases - To September 25, 2008 Title Distributor Gross Vicky Christina Barcelona MGM 19,745,774 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 13,314,757 Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 12,590,147 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 12,413,165 Fly Me to the Moon Summit 11,134,023 U2 3D nWave 9,501,521 The Visitor Overture 9,407,935 In Bruges Focus 7,800,824 The Orphanage Picture/Christal 6,894,612 Brideshead Reisited Mrmx 6,432,256 Mongol Picturehouse 5,705,761 The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 5,488,570 Shine a Light Par Vantage 5,421,098 Tell No One Music Box 5,335,358 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Mrmx 5,064,793 The Savages Fox Searchlight 4,795,616 Dolphins and Whales 3D 3D Entertainment 4,716,902 Persepolis Sony Classics 4,266,064 Young@Heart Fox Searchlight 3,966,690 Bottle Shock FreeStyle 3,890,244