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

Joy In Mudville At last, Pirates that the Motion Picture Association can embrace! Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean sailed into port significantly ahead of the fleet with an estimated $45.3 million. There was also significant booty for the weekend’s other newcomer The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that grossed a better than anticipated $22.9 million. The bad news was that the two freshmen accounted for 55% of the marketplace (the top 5 repped a staggering 77%), underlining the summer theme of big openings and unusually rapid declines. In this instance, despite the overall weekend plunder of roughly $146 million, business was up a slim 1% from 2002 and a racked up a modest 8% increase from last weekend. It was the first, albeit modest, boxoffice upturn in more than a month. However admissions continue to trail the record levels set one year ago. Much has been made in the press of Pirate’s PG-13 rating as a possible stumbling block for its commercial embrace. There was simply no evidence that the tag kept anyone away from the period romp and, based on exit polls, considerable support that the film was playing young and old but tilted toward the former. That fact likely benefited the Extraordinary Gents (and Lady) despite the fact that it, like Pirates, was an adventure yarn set in a bygone historic era. “All our research showed that League appealed to a slightly older audience,” said Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder. “The big problem was finding a summer date where the film wouldn’t get clobbered by the competition. Ultimately we decided that playing opposite Pirates would be benefit because of certain similarities the films share.” Unsurprising for the season, Terminator 3 and Legally Blonde 2 had respective 55% and 45% second weekend drops. The combination of siege marketing campaigns and weekly event titles has resulted in the majority of high profile seasonal releases under-performing based on recent data and trends. It’s one aspect of the record book that does not get accorded self-congratulatory trade ads. Meanwhile, Sony launched the first wave of Terminator 3 overseas in secondary territories (apart from Japan) in Asia and South America and racked up an impressive $20 million weekend that included an all-time record debut in Thailand. Last week it dominated movie going in Russia where Schwarzenegger is perhaps the most popular Hollywood star. Disney’s Finding Nemo continued to be the summer movie least effected by competition including from its own in-house fare. The film ebbed just 25%, added $8.3 million to its tally and edged toward $300 million domestically. It should reach that plateau in about eight days. In regional and specialized exploitation, Alliance’s quirky comedy La Grande Seduction had a wow debut in Quebec with close to $1 million (Canadian) from 79 theaters. It’s the third successful local production this summer, a feat that hasn’t occurred for close to three decades. The first expansion of Focus’s Swimming Pool was upbeat with a $10,000 plus screen average from 65 locations and Newmarket’s Whale Rider continued apace with a $1 million weekend and 60 new playdates. The frame was also rife with niche premieres with Paramount Classics’ Northfolk most impressive with a roughly $62,000 gross from five locations. The company will have a more daunting challenge selling the arty drama as it expands to other centers. IDP’s tony British acquisition I Capture the Castle and the French import The Housekeeper via Palm had promising bows with $48,000 and $43,000 weekends from respectively eight and six engagements. However, Sony Classics’ launch of the acclaimed Russian fable The Cuckoo was a disappointment with $16,000 at six theaters. - by Leonard Klady