..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Estimates
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.
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.
Weekend Estimates - October 3-5, 2003
Title The School of Rock - 2614 19.6 Out of Time - 3076 16.2 The Rundown -49% 3154 32.5 Under the Tuscan Sun -21% 1697 20.7 Secondand Lions -33% 3032 30.8 Underworld -50% 2715 44.5 Lost in Translation 14% 864 14.1 The Fighting Temptations -50% 1762 24.4 Once Upon a Time in Mexico -48% 2097 53 Cold Creek Manor -45% 1938 18.2 Matchstick Men -47% 2007 34.2 Duplex -54% 2191 7.8 Pirates of the Caribbean -32% 1211 297.9 Cabin Fever -51% 1056 19.7 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star -68% 1662 22.1 Luther -24% 360 1.9 Freaky Friday -50% 921 107.7 Finding Nemo 69% 617 336.4 Seabiscuit -34% 625 118.2 Mambo Italiano 0% 143 4.5 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) - Also Debuting/Expanding Sur le Seuil - 41 0.32 Foolproof - 170 0.19 Wonderland - 5 0.09 The Gospel of John -11% 14 0.22 Concert for George - 104 0.07 The Station Agent - 3 0.05 The Event - 9 0.02
Top Domestic Releases - January 1- October 2, 2003
Title Gross Finding Nemo 335,818,325 Pirates of the Caribbean 296,301,501 The Matrix Reloaded 281,097,951 Bruce Almighty 242,202,690 X2: X-Men United 214,949,694 Chicago * 167,542,538 Terminator 3: Rise of Machines 150,184,207 Bad Boys II 137,994,783 Anger Management 135,645,823 Bringing Down the House 132,716,677 The Hulk 132,165,088 2 Fast 2 Furious 127,126,040 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers * 121,155,348 Seabiscuit 117,668,490 S.W.A.T. 115,655,749 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over 110,423,379 Freaky Friday 107,026,845 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 105,813,373 The Italian Job 105,701,994 Daddy Day Care 103,963,346 * does not include 2002 box office
Domestic Market Share - January 1- October 2, 2003
Distributor (releases) Market Share Buena Vista (24) 19.40% Sony (22) 14.50% Warner Bros. (17) 11.80% Universal (12) 11.80% Fox (13) 8.20% Paramount (15) 7.40% New Line (12) 6.20% Miramax (24) 6.20% MGM (17) 4.20% DreamWorks (8) 4.00% Fox Searchlight (10) 1.70% Focus (7) 1.00% Lions Gate (16) 0.70% Other * (199) 2.90% - 100.00% * none greater than .5%
Home | Movie City News | The Hot Button | Contact Us
Report broken links and other web problems to Webmaster
©2005. Movie City News, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Movie City Geek, Movie City Indie and MCG are trademarks of Movie City News.
.