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

December 7, 2008 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Top Domestic Releases Silent Night, Silent Matinee While the first weekend of December is traditionally not quite the lowest grossing weekend of the year … it is pretty close to the bottom. This year is no exception as distributors continued the tradition of releasing movies with limited potency as evidenced by the opening of Punisher: War Zone, which ranked eighth in the lineup with an estimated $3.9 million. Better, in terms of theater average, was the bow of the musical bio of Chess Records Cadillac Ranch, which grossed $3.5 million, but the independent drama Nobel Son was a total fizzle with a $343,000 tally in 893 locations. The lowest noise among newcomers was the three screen launch of Frost/Nixon, which generated a per location average of $58,000. Otherwise, debuting niche fare was largely moribund. A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy had an encouraging single screen tally of $5,700, but such critically lauded fare as The Black Balloon from Australia and the Cannes-prized, Irish prison-set Hunger failed to translate kudos into ticket sales. Overall business was sliced a not untypical 50% from the Thanksgiving session. The industry has been loath to debut new movies in early December, convinced viewers are otherwise focused on holiday buying. Even in the current recession there was no thought given to reverse the trend. The few exceptions in the past -- Disclosure, Daylight and last year’s domestic underperformer The Golden Compass -- failed to convince industry mavens that this point in the calendar was fertile ground to expand the season. The opening of Frost/Nixon was largely attended with positive reviews, particularly for Oscar-touted respective performances by Michael Sheen and Frank Langella. The film’s older appeal was reflected in exit polls that identified the audience as 69% over the age of 35. It will expand limited to the top 20 markets next weekend and go wide at Christmas with hopes sufficient commercial momentum will expand its appeal. Cadillac Records, set in the 1960s, also skewed older despite the presence of Beyonce. It’s also getting positive word-of-mouth but faces stiff competition in the coming weeks from holiday releases that are likely to erode its print count in the waning days of 2008. Weekend business was edging toward $80 million, representing a slim 2% boost from 2007. A year ago there was little to embrace beyond the $25.8 million debut of The Golden Compass and Enchanted’s second place $10.7 million gross. The brunt of current holdovers in wide release experienced drops in the 40% to 60% range. The exceptions were a pair of award positioned platforms -- Milk and the recently announced National Board of Review best picture winner Slumdog Millionaire. Both films are still weeks away from wide release and are not unaware of the hurdles to clear to get mainstream audiences to warm to a biography of a bygone gay political activist and a Mumbai urchin on the brink of quiz show riches. The coming weeks appear unusually stuffed with movies in need of crossover assistance from critical endorsements. Otherwise the season is relying on the star power of Jim Carrey in Yes Men and Will Smith in Seven Pounds, though the latter is a darker yarn than expected in the actor’s cannon. Marquee value and upscale elements are the come on for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and bygone comic crimefighter The Spirit could be a left field hit. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals Title Distrib Weekend % Change* Theaters Cume Wks 1 1 Four Christmases WB 16,755,478 -46% 3335 69,418,170 2 2 3 Twilight Summit 13,046,722 -50% 3620 138,402,068 3 3 2 Bolt BVI 9,796,149 -63% 3516 79,381,422 3 4 5 Australia Fox 7,050,261 -52% 2721 30,919,097 2 5 4 Quantum of Solace Sony   6,752,390 -64% 3423 151,620,134 4 6 6 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Par 5,079,120 -64% 3317 165,653,852 5 7 7 Transporter 3 Lions Gate 4,668,898 -61% 2626 25,549,454 2 8 New Punisher: War Zone Lions Gate 4,271,451 - 2508 4,271,451 1 9 New Cadillac Ranch Sony   3,445,559 - 686 3,445,559 1 10 8 Role Models Uni 2,574,460 -51% 1907 61,617,805 6 11 10 Milk Focus 1,834,914 26% 99 4,284,465 2 12 11 Slumdog Millionaire Fox Searchlight 1,402,176 4% 78 5,339,510 4 13 9 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Miramax 1,031,036 -39% 678 6,657,280 5 14 12 Changeling Uni 501,070 -58% 681 34,683,447 7 15 New Nobel Son FreeStyle 333,912 - 893 333,912 1 16 19 Babine Alliance 318,784 -20% 73 929,352 2 17 15 Rachel Getting Married Sony Classics 285,331 -46% 170 9,226,246 10 18 18 Fireproof IDP 251,459 -42% 499 32,678,691 11 19 13 High School Musical 3: Senior Year BV 244,722 -77% 632 89,132,272 7 20 16 Zack and Mira Make a Porno Weinstein Co. 226,098 -57% 275 30,839,277 6 21 14 The Secret Life of Bees Fox Searchlight 217,469 -61% 432 36,994,417 8 22 20 The Dark Knight WB 187,418 -45% 269 530,540,885 21 23 New Frost/Nixon Uni 180,708 - 3 180,708 1 24 22 Synecdoche, New York Sony Classics 163,627 -43% 115 2,244,636 7 25 27 The Polar Express (reissue) WB 146,228 -7% 21 433,662 3 26 25 I've Loved You So Long Sony Class/Metro 144,675 -32% 51 1,722,120 12 27 21 Happy-Go-Lucky Mrmx 141,162 -51% 202 2,861,186 9 28 17 Soul Men MGM 133,421 -71% 233 11,874,010 5 29 23 Beverly Hills Chihuahua BV 114,523 -55% 248 92,231,434 10 30 24 Eagle Eye Par 113,174 -54% 205 100,404,599 11 31 29 Let the Right One In Magnolia 104,312 -23% 50 1,000,653 7 32 26 A Christmas Tale IFC 91,283 -43% 44 619,310 4 33 30 Lakeview Terrace Sony 75,386 -42% 162 40,006,625 12 34 33 Igor MGM 65,509 -41% 162 19,327,987 12 35 35 Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist Sony 58,298 -44% 161 31,832,314 10 36 39 Max Payne Fox 55,578 -31% 145 40,521,670 8 37 68 Pride and Glory WB 54,637 343% 180 15,709,385 7 38 51 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 50,253 21% 21 20,046,097 62 39 31 Wall-E BV 46,898 -60% 166 223,704,223 24 40 37 Burn After Reading Focus 45,414 -48% 78 60,244,987 13 41 47 The Duchess Par Vantage 44,684 -4% 135 13,823,741 12 42 32 Saw V Lions Gate 42,029 -63% 115 56,729,973 7 43 42 Appaloosa WB 40,323 -40% 104 19,991,616 12 44 38 Body of Lies WB 37,443 -56% 44 38,970,379 9 45 43 Religulous Lions Gate 35,630 -43% 59 12,953,375 10 46 40 The Family That Preys Lions Gate 35,177 -60% 94 37,569,349 13 47 28 Yuvraaj Eros 34,336 -78% 77 565,440 3 48 48 JCVD Peace Arch 33,234 -29% 21 337,038 5 49 36 Dostana Yash Raj 30,919 -67% 34 1,235,028 4 50 41 The Haunting of Molly Hartley FreeStyle 28,229 -82% 55 13,396,904 6 51 45 City of Ember Fox 27,861 -49% 83 7,781,625 9 52 New Don Carlo Emerging 27,834 - 5 27,834 1 53 54 RockNRolla WB 25,069 -34% 36 5,622,796 9 54 49 Vicky Christina Barcelona MGM 23,467 -46% 12 22,512,805 17 55 44 W. Lions Gate 22,018 -61% 44 25,556,511 8 56 59 Space Station 3D Imax 21,779 -18% 6 77,089,897 347 57 55 Magnificent Desolation Imax 20,976 -38% 7 26,666,743 168 58 34 Righteous Kill Overture 20,908 -80% 89 40,054,627 13 59 52 Mamma Mia! Uni 18,166 -56% 66 144,182,509 21 60 46 Deep Sea 3-D WB 18,021 -63% 10 37,052,356 145 61 72 My Name is Bruce Image Ent. 17,214 30% 2 154,342 6 Source: MCN/EDI   Estimates - December 6-7, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (avg) %Chg Theas Cume Four Christmases WB 17.8 (5,330) -43% 3335 70.4 Twilight Summit 13.3 (3,680) -49% 3629 138.7 Bolt BV 9.6 (2,640) -64% 3654 79.2 Australia Fox 6.8 (2,510) -54% 2721 30.7 Quantum of Solace Sony 6.7 (1,950) -65% 3423 151.5 Madagascar: Back 2 Africa Par 5.1 (1,530) -64% 3317 165.7 Transporter 3 Lions Gate 4.6 (1,760) -62% 2626 25.5 Punisher: War Zone Lions Gate 3.9 (1,570) - 2508 3.9 Cadillac Records Sony 3.5 (5,060) - 686 3.5 Role Models Uni 2.6 (1,380) -49% 1907 61.7 Milk Focus 1.8 (18,380) 25% 99 4.3 Slumdog Millionaires Fox Searchlight 1.4 (18,330) 6% 78 5.4 Boy in the Striped Pajamas Miramax 1.0 (1,500) -40% 678 6.6 Changeling Uni .51 (750) -58% 1010 34.7 Nobel Son FreeStyle .34 (380) - 893 0.34 Babine Alliance .31 (4,080) -21% 76 1 Rachel Getting Married Sony Classics .29 (1,690) -45% 172 9.2 Zack and Mira Make a Porno Weinstein Co. .25 (900) -52% 275 30.9 High School Musical 3 BV .22 (350) -79% 632 89.1 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $78.60 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 2% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -50% - - - Also debuting/expanding Frost/Nixon Uni .17 (58,000) - 3 0.17 Synecdoche, New York Sony Classics .15 (1,500) -47% 101 2.2 The Black Balloon  NeoClassics 10,100 (1,260) - 8 0.01 A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy Magnolia 5,700 (5,700) - 1 0.01 Shooting Michael Moore Hypocrate 2,760 (920) - 3 0.01 Ciao Regent 2,300 (2,300) - 1 0.01 Hunger IFC 1,950 (1,950) - 1 0.01 Domestic Market Share - To December 4, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Mrkt Share Warner Bros. (27) 1637.9 18.40% Paramount (16) 1509.9 16.90% Sony (24) 1202.4 13.50% Universal (20) 1068.3 12.00% Buena Vista (17) 917.4 10.30% Fox (22) 853.1 9.60% Lions Gate (19) 407.3 4.60% Fox Searchlight (8) 194.6 2.20% Summit (5) 180.9 2.00% Focus (7) 127.5 1.40% MGM (16) 119.1 1.30% Overture (6) 95.7 1.10% Paramount Vantage (11) 86.7 1.00% Miramax (9) 66.3 0.70% Picturehouse (7) 63.3 0.70% New Line (4) 61.8 0.70% Other * (309) 321 3.60% * none greater than 0.5% 8913.2 100.00% Top Domestic Grossers - To December 4, 2008 Title Distributor Gross The Dark Knight WB 530,258,989 Iron Man Par 318,338,993 Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Par 317,023,851 Hancock Sony 229,431,675 Wall-E BV 223,641,119 Kung Fu Panda Par 215,915,512 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Par 159,066,369 Horton Hears a Who Fox 154,529,439 Sex and the City WB 152,647,258 Mamma Mia! Uni 144,147,766 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian BV 141,682,713 Quantum of Solace Sony 141,418,534 The Incredible Hulk Uni 134,617,678 Wanted Uni 134,512,024 Get Smart WB 130,335,095 Twilight Summit 119,706,509 Juno * Fox Searchlight 115,568,583 Tropic Thunder Par 110,562,193 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Uni 103,183,080 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB 101,689,940