..Gary Dretzka
..Leonard Klady
..Emanuel Levy
..David Poland
..Doug Pratt
..Ray Pride

Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Ring A Ding Ding ... Fox's Phone Booth had just enough cel power to call in an estimated $15.1 million and lead the weekend box office. But getting connected to mass audiences has been elusive for new movies during the past month and that's been amply reflected in declining audiences caught between Iraq and a stadium seating place. The weekend featured four freshmen entries that all debuted to tepid to poor business and few holdover movies that could be characterized as having unusual stamina. Overall business should generate roughly $98 million a 3% sliver down from one week ago. It's also the third consecutive weekend of double-digit drops from 2002 (down 11%) when the second weekend of Panic Room led the pack followed by a $14 million bow for High Crimes. Phone Booth - on hold for close to a year - has the sort of tenable thrill premise one expects will attract an opening weekend crowd and did, relative to the current depressed movie going state. It's also likely to experience the steep second weekend declines seen throughout the season and evidenced by the most recent sophomore sessions of The Core and Basic. The second and third slots also featured unremarkable results for debuting movies. Warner Bros. female empowerment What a Girl Wants was slightly more muscular on gross but evinced more cellulite based on theater average to the Vin Diesel vehicle A Man Apart. Unlike the weekend leader, the trailing pair attempted to sell name recognition rather than substance and both came up with little more than ether. Considerably thinner was Miramax's Eddie Griffin comedy Dysfunktional Family which limped into the marketplace with $1.1 million and an $1,800 average. The good news on the horizon would appear to be the opening of Anger Management with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson which is generating tracking response that seems likely to render more than a $40 million initial weekend. While it's a much needed shot in the arm for theater owners, one film cannot carry the burden of reviving the film going habit. Niche and alternative product haven't been as hard hit by audience apathy but, then again, viewer choices are considerably more variegated and superior in quality to the mainstream fare. The Oscar ride has been exceptionally good for both The Pianist and Nowhere in Africa and the slow expansion of Bend It Like Beckham has effectively capitalized on positive word-of-mouth as it penetrates across the country. The new entries demonstrate the spectrum of options from IDP's Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop that generated $230,000 from 19 screens to Fox Searchlight/Alliance's noirish The Good Thief with a $130,000 swag at 9 locations and a $22,000 gross for Sony Classics' droll Finnish Man Without a Past from two theaters. Still, not everything is working. Focus' The Guys centering on a fireman and a reporter in post-9/11 Manhattan barely generated a $1,000 average from 15 engagements and Warner Bros. second test run of The Blue Collar Comedy Tour was so mirthless the company chose not to report its box office. Similarly, Sony Classic's ensemble comedy Levity failed to lift spirits with a $31,000 launch from 10 venues. Email Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - April 4-6, 2003

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Phone Booth	Fox	15.1 (6,080)	-	2481	15.1
What a Girl Wants	WB	11.4  (3,860)	-	2964	11.4
A Man Apart	New Line	11.2 (4,580)	-	2459	11.2
Head of State	DreamWorks	8.9 (4,140)	-34%	2155	25.5
Bring Down the House	BV	8.4 (2,900)	-32%	2910	111.2
The Core	Par	6.2 (2,040)	-49%	3019	19.9
Chicago	Miramax	5.3 (2,230)	-26%	2395	152.2
Basic	Sony	5.3 (1,843)	-54%	2876	20
Agent Cody Banks	MGM	3.6 (1,550)	-44%	2331	40
Dreamcatcher	WB	2.7 (1,150)	-59%	2360	30.2
Piglet's Big Movie	BV	2.9 (1,420)	-42%	2021	16.4
The Pianist	Focus/TVA	2.1 (2,690)	-14%	790	25.9
The Hunted	Par	1.9 (1,130)	-47%	1685	32.2
View From the Top	Miramax	1.4 (900)	-60%	1579	14.6
Old School	DreamWorks	1.4 (1,530)	-42%	925	73
Bend It Like Beckham	Fox Searchlight	1.1 (9,230)	65%	117	2.4
Dysfunktional Family	Miramax	1.1 (1,810)	-	602	1.1
Spirited Away	BV	1.0 (1,380)	-44%	714	8.8
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days	Par	1.0 (1,190)	-45%	827	102.5
Tears of the Sun	Sony	.76 (890)	-62%	855	42.8
-
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$92.76	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-11%	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	-3%	-
-
Also Debuting/Expanding	-
Cowboy Bebop	IDP	.23 (12,160)	-	19	0.25
Nowhere in Africa	Zeitgeist	.28 (6,600)	-2%	42	0.21
The Good Thief	Fox Search/Allnc	13 (14,330)	-	9	0.16
Assassination Tango	MGM	.11 (5,140)	76%	22	0.19
Levity	Sony Classics	31,200 (3,120)	-	10	0.03
Man Without a Past	Sony Classics	22,160 (11,080)	-	2	0.02
The Guys	Focus	15,500 (1,030)	-	15	0.01

Domestic Market Share - January 1- Arpil 3, 2003

Distributor (titles)	Gross (millions)	Mkt Share
Buena Vista (15)	321.2	15.90%
Miramax (13)	241.1	11.90%
New Line (5)	232.5	11.50%
Paramount (9)	221.8	11.00%
DreamWorks (6)	213.7	10.60%
Warner Bros. (8)	205.1	10.20%
Sony (11)	175.1	8.70%
Fox (5)	173.2	8.60%
MGM (10)	79.4	3.90%
Focus (3)	43.2	2.10%
Universal (5)	27.2	1.40%
Fox Searchlight (3)	18.8	0.90%
IFC (3)	18.3	0.90%
Others * (78)	48.2	2.40%
	1887.1	100.00%
* none greater than .5%