..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Estimates
Shaggy - Dog Saga
Audiences flocked to the animal shelter as Scooby-Doo 2: Monster's Unleashed barked up an estimated $30.3 million to claim top dog spot in weekend movie going. Three other films bowed (and not wowed) nationally, generating strong overall business on par with recent weeks and surpassing last year's torpid results.
The animated hound yelped to a new March record for Warner Bros. and secured a likely green light for a third outing. The original bowed in the more lucrative summer of 2002 to $54 million and an eventual domestic gross of better than $150 million plus $120 million overseas and bountiful ancillary revenues.
"The 'Doo' is definitely doo-ing it," proclaimed Warner's distribution chief Dan Fellman. "It should definitely play well into the summer and continue to be a very healthy franchise."
The Ladykillers, based on the 1950s Brit comedy classic, secured second spot with close to $13 million and a solid $8,100 theater average. Though dismissed by many major critics, the presence of Tom Hanks and the cult appeal of the Coen Brothers was enough to provide an opening burst of interest for the film. To a lesser degree that also applied to the launch of Jersey Girl and the team of filmmaker Kevin Smith and actor Ben Affleck. It ranked fifth with an $8.5 million gross and a passable $5,600 average.
Overall business should tally to roughly $120 million for the frame for a carbon copy performance of last weekend and surpassing 2003's result by 16%. A year ago a trio of freshmen movies battled for the top with Head of State nosing out The Core and Basic with $13.5 million to their respective box offices of $12 million and $11.5 million.
The other big shocker was Newmarket's ascendancy at the top of the market share rankings as it surpassed Sony's year to date on Friday. It was an unprecedented achievement for an independent distributor. The company's Bob Berney noted that the reign will likely end next weekend with Sony's launch of Hellboy but hopes the achievement registers as more than just big numbers.
"I like to believe that it will mark a change in attitude toward independents from exhibitors," said Berney. "It's not simply a situation where having films people wanted to see translated into box office. We demonstrated that we could promote and physically manage The Passion and Monster as well as the majors and have to be viewed as a viable alternative."
The Passion of The Christ added another $12 million to its coffers and ranked third for the weekend. It's expected to continue strong during Easter and exceed $400 million domestically and will likely become the 10th biggest grossing movie of all-time next weekend. The film opened in England Friday (after an uncharacteristically soft Irish debut) and is expected to gross close to $3 million from about 350 venues and is neck and neck for first place with Starsky & Hutch. Second weekend results in Mexico and Germany were also very good with the film slipping by about 35% and 30% in those respective countries.
Dawn of the Dead experienced the big hit of the weekend as its gross sank some 60% to $10.5 million while the sophomore session of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind declined 37% to $5.2 million. Further down the chart in 11th position, the action programmer Never Die Alone debuted to $2.9 million and, anyway one spells it, DMX is on the fast track to DVD.
Specialized fare continues to dribble into the marketplace with the controversial Cannes-preemed Dogme-produced Dogville finding warm initial response as it dipped its toes into nine theaters for an opening salvo of roughly $90,000. The documentary The Mayor of the Sunset Strip generated an OK $23,000 from seven sites but the saga of Australian bandit Ned Kelly fired mostly blanks with a $46,600 gross from 22 theaters.
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.
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.
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 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.
The weekend also saw several films providing a sneak peak including MGM's redo of 1973's vigilante justice classic Walking Tall with The Rock now carrying the big stick. The previews drew well with excellent exit polls but it provided an unexpected glitch in box office tracking that's likely to add as much as $800,000 to the weekend gross of Cody Banks 2.
Weekend Finals - March 26-28, 2005
Title Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed 29,438,331 3312 29,438,331 The Ladykillers 12,634,563 1583 12,634,563 The Passion of the Christ 12,593,974 -35% 3214 315,152,778 Dawn of the Dead 10,675,945 -60% 2748 44,220,945 Jersey Girl 8,319,171 1520 8,319,171 Taking Lives 6,557,426 -43% 2705 21,717,105 Starsky & Hutch 6,212,223 -40% 2985 76,821,982 Hidalgo 5,336,874 -37% 2667 56,428,037 Secret Window 5,314,008 -43% 2912 40,570,505 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 5,256,206 -36% 1357 16,551,047 Never Die Alone 3,089,993 1161 3,089,993 Agent Cody Banks: Destination London 2,769,212 -54% 2410 21,442,720 50 First Dates 2,385,220 -25% 1759 116,748,548 Nascar: The Imax Experience 1,068,805 -20% 70 4,979,196 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 705,817 -48% 661 374,556,572 Twisted 627,577 -53% 811 24,701,908 Confessions of Teenage Drama Queen 463,722 -70% 601 28,487,331 Miracle 287,244 -61% 388 63,654,079 Cheaper by the Dozen 282,468 -8% 306 137,527,680 Good Bye, Lenin! 276,871 18% 63 998,046 Monster 274,903 -59% 574 33,954,784 Mystic River 244,114 -62% 350 88,768,441 Barbershop 2: Back in Business 229,152 -58% 320 62,580,211 Spartan 206,077 -75% 252 4,143,444 Touching the Void 203,775 -14% 125 3,300,490 Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights 184,568 -61% 189 13,848,674 Monsieur Ibrahim 184,433 -9% 71 1,204,606 The Triplets of Belleville 151,797 -22% 101 6,586,764 Bugs! 144,838 16% 24 5,975,969 Along Came Polly 142,120 -32% 209 87,596,035 Le Dernier Tunnel 141,361 -29% 64 884,803 Girl with a Pearl Earring 140,253 -29% 141 11,064,769 Something's Gotta Give 118,916 -46% 173 124,590,960 Master and Commander 116,948 -21% 171 93,557,809 The Haunted Mansion 104,309 -35% 172 75,651,404 Calendar Girls 104,026 26% 195 30,792,823 The Fog of War 101,831 -34% 85 3,788,233 The Butterfly Effect 100,431 -37% 154 57,384,658 The Barbarian Invasions 98,916 -37% 106 8,262,296 My Architect 92,810 -13% 39 1,982,059 Tais-toi 91,714 33 91,714 Dogville 88,855 9 88,855 Space Station 87,853 15% 16 48,534,997 In America 79,856 -43% 85 15,323,959 Cold Mountain 77,471 -64% 147 95,206,492 Intermission 72,722 82% 26 128,802 Eurotrip 68,412 -70% 82 17,718,223 Torque 64,917 -35% 119 21,125,922 The Last Samurai 64,517 -29% 168 111,054,195 Peter Pan 62,365 -44% 126 48,417,850 You Got Served 62,313 -61% 104 39,780,191 The Blue Butterfly 62,276 -49% 52 1,520,570 Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey 60,154 9% 12 6,003,363 Bon Voyage 59,273 116% 6 100,501 Osama 57,678 -33% 26 979,632 The Company 55,918 12% 35 2,089,376 Welcome to Mooseport 47,345 -59% 143 14,339,136 Ned Kelly 43,704 22 43,704 Against the Ropes 43,350 364% 106 5,858,246 The Dreamers 41,288 -38% 41 2,376,001 House of Sand and Fog 40,592 -46% 75 13,005,485 Win a Date with Tad Hamilton 38,128 102 16,980,098 The Best Two Years 36,789 -12% 24 530,094 Brother Bear 35,957 -14% 81 85,292,962 The Corporation 35,462 -4% 10 840,552 Catch That Kid 34,689 -54% 107 16,579,834 Latter Days 34,156 -12% 14 473,468 The Young Black Stallion 33,210 -61% 27 6,153,140 T-Rex: Back to the Craetacious 28,498 1% 5 47,553,263 City of God 27,248 -49% 22 7,356,909 Snow Walker 22,507 -43% 11 201,149 Big Fish 22,309 -55% 35 66,402,088 Mayor of the Sunset Strip 21,722 7 21,722 Club Dread 21,276 120% 26 4,984,651 Japanese Story 19,046 32% 14 434,346 The Reckoning 18,974 -28% 25 123,154 Ghosts of the Abyss 18,399 -21% 9 15,693,584
Estimates - March 26-28, 2004
Title Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed - 3312 30.3 The Ladykillers - 1583 12.9 The Passion of the Christ -38% 3214 314.6 Dawn of the Dead -61% 2748 44 Jersey Girl - 1520 8.5 Starsky & Hutch -37% 2985 77.1 Taking Lives