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Weekend Estimates
Market Share
Top Domestic Grosses
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
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