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

May Tricks Forever The anticipation of box office records shattering like candy glass simply did not occur. Still, The Matrix Reloaded charged up a staggering $92.2 million debut and close to 60% of the weekend ticket tally. Folding in Thursday box office and Wednesday previews, the film chalked up a not too shabby $134.7 million. The picture could claim a record for the biggest opening of a sequel but industry consensus was that if Warner Bros. had been entertaining thoughts of re-writing b.o. history, it should have launched the highly touted second chapter on Friday. As things stand, the publicity machine that planted the notion of an unparalleled commercial wave flooding the nation are skulking back to the dark recesses of their spin factories. The true test for The Matrix Reloaded will come seven days hence. Largely clobbered by the critics, it could well prove the old adage about “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” The appreciably better received X2: X-Men United has experienced 50% plus drops since its debut and comparable or worse response for Matrix, Part 2 would only underline the new picture’s constricted appeal to a young male audience. It could well encounter stiffer than initially expected competition with next weekend’s bow of the Jim Carrey opus Bruce Almighty. Weekend business of slightly more than $160 million resulted in a 45% uptick in movie going from a week earlier but remained 6% behind 2002’s level. A year ago, Star Wars, Episode 2 bowed with $80 million and Spider-Man’s third weekend scored with $45 million. As things stand, summer 2003 is in need of a clutch of box office surprises to surpass last year’s bounty. The frame’s other debutant - Fox’s spoofish romantic comedy Down with Love - fell well short of becoming a counter-programming coup. It ranked fourth with an undistinguished $7.3 million. Truly the best of the holdovers was Daddy Day Care which retained second in the lineup with $18.6 million and a comparatively modest 33% erosion from its opening. The seasonal landscape continues to reflect a nation that’s not taking out its purses and wallets as frequently. Again, we’ve yet to see those pictures that would spur a change of habit as summer has increasingly become a time of the predictable, pre-packaged very expensive programmer. A veritable mixed bag of regional and specialized launches provided little more than a commercial hiccup in the shadow of The Matrix. Miramax dipped its toe into the waters with a 196 theater bow of Pokemon Heroes and retreated with approximately $220,000. The modest debut appeared to be no more than a herald for a quick video release. Bollywood’s latest foray Armaan: The Desire also had a slow start with $132,000 from 40 screens. India, the second largest film industry in annual volume, has been rocked in recent years by video piracy that has eroded theatrical revenues by 25% to 30% and U.S. majors have tightened up print security and surveillance to curb a similar fate befalling its vaunted product. Fox Searchlight’s first foreign-language release, the French multi-lingual L’Auberge Espagnole, was off to a solid start with an estimated $58,000 from 11 forays. The film, a contemporary coming-of-age saga, debuted in Quebec last month where it’s grossed an impressive $1 million from 23 prints. Among the other exclusive debuts, the best result was for Lions Gate’s three screen bow of Ken Loach’s powerful working class drama Sweet Sixteen with a $22,000 gross. The Scottish-set film is going out, mercifully, with English sub-titles. Email Leonard Klady