..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Estimates
R … As in Resurrection
The remake of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead rose to the top of weekend movie going with an estimated $28.2 million usurping the prior three week champion The Passion of The Christ. Another freshman outing - Taking Lives - ranked third with an $11.5 million tally and all three pictures shared the common theme of characters resurrected from the dead and an R-rating from the Classification and Ratings Administration.
Ironically, at a time when a lot of ink has been spilled about the NC-17 rating, it's R-tagged films that are having a revival and providing a boost to what had been sagging box office figures. Through March 18, overall box office is 3% ahead of the comparable period in 2003 and that after close to two months of trailing the prior year. The current weekend is also significantly above last year by 27%.
As with last year's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the current Dawn of the Dead underlined the old adage about not being able to keep a good zombie or ghoul down. The relatively modest-budget horror yarn is probably better known in name than actual viewing by the crowds that embraced its opening weekend. A wry mix of black humor and chills tapped into the current zeitgeist and pocketbooks.
The Passion of The Christ again saw its box office off by a little more than a third to slip into second spot with about $19.6 million. It was slightly shy of $300 million and should reach that level on its 29th day of release on Wednesday - faster than all but three other movies.
The Passion made its first forays into Latin America over the weekend with excellent bows in both Mexico and Brazil. Mexico should gross $4.5 million at about 360 theaters while Brazil appears headed for a $3.5 million gross from roughly 300 screens.
The domestic weekend tally should total a little better than $120 million for a 6% upturn from last weekend and, as noted a 27% increase from 2003. A year ago Bringing Down the House led the field in its third week with $16.3 million followed up the opening weekend of Dreamcatcher with $15 million and a fourth place bow of $7 million for A View from the Top.
The serial killer thriller Taking Lives had an OK start of $11.5 million but is unlikely to sustain well in the coming weeks. The other national debut, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, was seventh ranked with a respectable $6,000 theater average. The offbeat sci-fi romantic comedy headlining Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet received generally mixed reviews and will have a tough time expanding from its initial run of 1353 playdates.
Most of the continuing titles in the marketplace experienced drops between 25% and 35% and that's likely to continue through to Easter recess. The exception was Nascar: The Imax Experience that continued to rev up the large screen sector with a downward rattle of less than 10%. The sector has been ready for its close-up for about a decade and though the majors (particularly Warners and Disney) have tested those waters, the present number of worldwide venues financially restrict what can be made in original programming.
Specialized openers once again were scant with IFC's Irish gangster import Intermission ringing up about $35,000 from 10 locations. Additionally, there were a couple of single screen bows in Manhattan including a buoyant $26,400 launch of France's Oscar submission Bon Voyage with Isabel Adjani and Gerard Depardieu and Palm's Icelandic Noi, a yarn of a troubled teen, eking out a little more than $4,000.
Weekend Estimates - March 19-21, 2004
Title Dawn of the Dead - 2745 28.2 The Passion of the Christ -39% 3250 295.7 Taking Lives - 2705 11.5 Starsky & Hutch -32% 3185 67.9 Secret Window -48% 3018 33 Hidalgo -28% 2929 48.6 Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind - 1353 8.1 Agent Cody Banks: Destination London -24% 2973 17.3 50 First Dates -20% 2153 113.3 Confessions of Teenage Drama Queen -37% 1261 27.6 Lord of the Rings: Return of King -26% 1021 373.5 Twisted -55% 1308 23.7 Nascar: Imax Experience -9% 68 3.4 Spartan -60% 832 3.6 Miracle -44% 780 63.2 Monster -44% 814 33.5 Mystic River -51% 670 88.3 Barbershop 2: Back in Business -45% 587 62.2 Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights -63% 477 12.9 Eurotrip -58% 259 17.6 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) - Also Debuting/Expanding Intermission - 10 0.03 Bon Voyage - 1 0.03 Noi, Albinoi - 1 0.01
Top Limited Releases - January 1 - March 18, 2004
Title In America 11,372,011 21 Grams 10,760,544 Girl with a Pearl Earring 10,006,405 House of Sand and Fog 9,904,492 The Cooler 6,822,392 The Triplets of Belleville 5,258,383 The Young Black Stallion 4,678,191 The Fog of War 3,276,122 Touching the Void 2,732,463 City of God 2,460,827 The Dreamers 2,233,105 The Barbarian Invasions 2,162,797 Nascar: The Imax Experience 2,089,847 Space Station 2,073,277 The Company 1,761,296 My Architect 1,404,206 The Blue Butterfly 1,288,018 * none greater than 500 playdates
does not include 2003 grossesDomestic Market Share - January 1 - March 18, 2004
Distributor (titles) Sony (10) 17.60% Newmarket (2) 17.00% New Line (6) 10.00% Buena Vista (11) 10.00% Warner Bros. (13) 9.70% Fox (6) 7.20% Universal (6) 6.80% Miramax (10) 5.40% MGM (4) 4.10% Paramount (6) 3.80% DreamWorks (3) 2.40% Lions Gate (7) 1.60% Focus (2) 1.30% Fox Searchlight (3) 1.00% Sony Classics (5) 0.60% Other * (64) 1.50% *none greater than .5% 100.00%
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.
.