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

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Golden Rule Daze Paramount's The School of Rock was definitely in the Black, Jack as the tuneful comedy debuted as the top viewing choice with an estimated $19.6 million. MGM's thriller Out of Time also bowed respectably in second spot with $16.2 million and a couple of exclusive premieres posted good opening returns in an otherwise status quo frame. Overall business should clock in with roughly $93 million for a virtual carbon copy of last weekend's tally. However, movie going dipped by 15% from 2002 when Red Dragon fired up $35.6 million and the animated Jonah: A Veggie Tale had a surprisingly crisp $6.2 million first toss. While the performances of both national openers were solid, the current marketplace erosion for continuing titles remains ferocious. It's a situation that makes exhibitors particularly nervous, even after last week's menu of thumbs up and back slapping at the annual Show East confab. Fueled by very upbeat reviews, The School of Rock immediately went to the head of the current class. Positive word-of-mouth also appeared to be spreading like wildfire as Saturday business ballooned by 46% from opening day crowds. There's definitely plenty of initial momentum and confidence that the crowd pleaser can hold its own against immediately upcoming competition next weekend from Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. More likely to be commercially pummeled is Out of Time, a serviceable vehicle for Denzel Washington. Its box office bow reflected the actor's core appeal playing in a genre movie but lacking additional hooks, its clock is definitely running down. The terrible twos were definitely in evidence for The Rundown as its business halved despite generally good reviews and audience response. Disney augmented its run of Under the Tuscan Sun with 470 new theaters but its theater average still declined by 43% (overall B.O. was off 21%). The one true bright spot in the landscape is Focus's cautious roll out of Lost in Translation. The company added 376 engagements Friday to bring its theater count to 864 and still managed to generate averages of close to $5,000. It seems unlikely that it can expand much more and certainly if it maintains this level of exposure can maximize the picture's grossing potential well beyond its current impressive $14 million cume. Regionally, Canada appears to busy off loading its indigenous product with its Franco fare easily outpacing Anglo movies. The psychological thriller Sur le Seuil was eyeing a solid $320,000 debut on 40 screens while the heist yarn Foolproof limped along with $190,000 in 170 venues. Concert for George, a musical ode to George Harrision from first-timer Arenaplex, was generally discordant with an estimated $64,000 in 104 locations and Thinkfilm's fest favorite The Event generated an unspectacular $19,200 from five screens. Most impressive in first steps of their platforms were Lions Gate's graphic crime-sex meller Wonderland and Miramax's Sundance-prized The Station Agent. Wonderland, promoting Val Kilmer as an Oscar contender, hooked the curious for a $90,000 weekend from five sites while the non-star driven Station Agent capitalized on 4-star reviews for a comparably strong $53,000 in three locations. Beautiful Screener … Bad timing, division in the ranks and mishandling of the press marked the first wave of response to Hollywood's no-screener era. While Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti was maintaining the policy was in response to piracy, few were buying that rationale. It appeared quite clear that the industry wanted to send a message to Washington that it was prepared to clean its house and expected the Hill to assist internationally by tact and force. However, D.C. was too busy addressing issues of administration security leaks and watching the daily seismic jumps in the California recall to take much notice. Conversely, the majors failed to get its troops in lock step with a summit of its specialty divisions quickly assembled and delivering a statement decrying the policy as a conspiracy against the, relatively speaking, little guy. The issue doesn't have its equivalent of WMD but following week one of this turf war, it's fair to say that nothing has gone quite to script. The media focus has largely glossed over the subject of piracy and focused on squabbling, Washington has slotted it way down on the agenda and the majors find themselves consumed with putting out brush fires that threaten to explode into four-alarm status. - by Leonard Klady