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

November 23, 2008 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Top Domestic Releases Fang You Very Much Twilight, the teen vampire romance sensation, bit down hard to debut with an estimated $72.7 million and command about 44% of weekend ticket buying revenues. The session also saw the bow of the animated family film Bolt, which ranked third with $26.8 million in a frame that saw the sort of expansion Wall Street dreams of returning daily. Though one might ordinarily anticipate a calm before the storm of traditionally torrid Thanksgiving movie going, the past weekend tally of roughly $166 million exceeds 2007 turkey holiday performance. The past weekend had only one significant platform title expanding and debuts in niche and exclusive arenas was sparse. Yuvraaj on the Bollywood circuit generated a disappointing $133,000 from 77 theaters and a few indie openings including I Can’t Think Straight and Growing Up in Canada had box office of no great distinction. Originally an MTV Films project, Twilight was quickly snapped up by Summit in turnaround and for a nascent distributor the film’s resounding success is manna from heaven. Tracking was so strong, particular among young women, that pundits downplayed predictions much in the way that caution greeted Sex and the City in the early summer. Advance ticketing was fierce with hundreds of showtimes selling out days and weeks in advance of the Thursday midnight launch. On Fandango the film ranked third among its all-time advance sellers and it was 10th on rival MovieTickets.com. The first midnight show sold roughly $7 million worth of tickets and Saturday business dipped about 28% from opening day for a less severe drop than SATC. Bolt, the latest from Disney animation, largely got lost in the shuffle despite a strong debut. It’s effectively positioned for the holidays when families push away from the table for some not too strenuous entertainment. Weekend revenues shot up 14% from seven days earlier when Quantum of Solace dominated the marketplace. Even stronger was the 61% boost from 2007 when the debut of Beowulf led with a $27.5 million box office with Bee Movie taking place position with $14 million. The holocaust-set drama The Boy in Striped Pajamas expanded to the top 25 markets and moved into the top 10 list with a sturdy theater average of $4,090. Also beefing up was critical favorite Slumdog Millionaire, which went from 10 to 32 playdates and grossed close to $1 million. Anticipation is high for the limited launch of Milk for Thanksgiving, while nervousness surrounds the epic romance Australia from Baz Luhrmann. However, hopes that the holiday session will be buoyant largely rest on the momentum from the market’s current top sellers. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - November 17- November 23, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Twilight Summit 72.7 (21,250) - 3419 72.7 Quantum of Solace Sony 27.2 (7,870) --60% 3458 109.3 Bolt BV 26.8 (7,330) - 3651 26.8 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Par 15.6 (3,900) ---55% 4007 137.1 Role Models Uni 7.1 (2,590) --37% 2733 47.9 Changeling Uni 2.6 (1,500) -38% 1739 31.6 High School Musical 3 BV 2.0 (850) --64% 2361 86.8 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Miramax 1.7 (4,090) 250% 406 2.6 Zack and Miri Make a Porno Weinstein Co. 1.5 (1,210) --53% 1220 29.1 The Secret Life of Bees Fox Searchlight 1.2 (1,110) --48% 1095 35.6 Slumdog Millionaire Fox Searchlight 1.0 (30,310) 169%-- 32 1.6 Fireproof IDP .89 (1,080) -29% 823 30.61 Soul Men MGM .86 (1,060) --63% 814 9.99 Rachel Getting Married Sony Classics .78 (1,930) -26% 405 7.25 Eagle Eye Par .67 (890) -54% 757 99.07 Saw V Lionsgate .46 (660) -74% 694 56.4 Beverly Hills Chihuahua BV .44 (560) -72% 788 91.6 The Haunting of Molly Hartley FreeStyle .41 (670) -72% 614 13.2 Happy-Go-Lucky Miramax .35 (1,720) -6% 202 2.2 The Dark Knight WB .34 (1,140) -32% 298 529.7 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $162.60 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 61% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 14% - - - Also debuting/expanding Synecdoche, NY Sony Classics .28 (2,790) -15%- 101 1.5 Yuvraaj Eros .13 (1,730) - 77 0.13 I Can't Think Straight Regent 15,900 (5,300) - 3 0.02 Growing Up Mongrel 5,600 (1,870) - 3 0.01 Special Magnolia 3,600 (3,600) - 1 0.01 Domestic Market Share - To November 20, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Mrkt Share Warner Bros. (26) 1582.5 18.70% Paramount (16) 1469.5 17.40% Sony (24) 1138.8 13.50% Universal (20) 1044.7 12.40% Buena Vista (16) 842,4 10.00% Fox (21) 828.6 9.80% Lions Gate (18) 384.9 4.50% Fox Searchlight (8) 188.9 2.20% Focus (6) 124.8 1.50% MGM (16) 116.9 1.40% Overture (6) 95.3 1.10% Paramount Vantage (11) 86.5 1.00% Picturehouse (7) 63.3 0.80% New Line (4) 61.8 0.70% Miramax (9) 60.9 0.70% Summit (4) 55.4 0.70% Other * (303) 308.3 3.60% * none greater than 0.4% 8453.5 100.00% Top Domestic Grossers - To November 20, 2008 Title Distributor Gross The Dark Knight WB 529,325,841 Iron Man Par 318,338,993 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Par 317,023,851 Hancock Sony 229,431,675 WALL-E BV 223.319,791 Kung Fu Panda Par 215,908,653 Horton Hears a Who Fox 154,529,439 Sex and the City WB 152,647,258 Mamma Mia! Uni 144,023,348 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 141,682,713 The Incredible Hulk Uni 134,617,678 Wanted Uni 134,512,024 Get Smart WB 130,335,095 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Par 121,447,454 Juno* Fox Searchlight 115,568,583 Tropic Thunder Par 110,536,085 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Uni 103,183,080 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB 101,608,407 Step Brothers Sony 101,294,165 You Don't Mess With the Zohan Sony 100,112,110 *None greater than 755 playdates