April 11, 2004
April 4, 2004
March 28, 2004
March 21, 2004
March 14, 2004
March 7, 2004
February 29, 2004
February 22, 2004
February 16, 2004
February 8, 2004
February 1, 2004
January 25, 2004
January 19, 2004
January 11, 2004
January 4, 2004
Dec 28, 2003
Dec 21, 2003
Dec 14, 2003
Dec 7, 2003


..Gary Dretzka
..Leonard Klady
..Emanuel Levy
..David Poland
..Doug Pratt
..Ray Pride





Weekend Finals
Top Limited Releases
Domestic Market Share

Shootout at the OK Bijou

While the outcome of the match up between Kill Bill Vol. 2 and The Punisher was never in doubt, the fact that both films fared better than anticipated only fuels the pressing question of the weekend: Why were these two films going head to head? The finale of the Quentin Tarantino revenge saga topped the frame with close to $25 million with second spot clinched by the vengeful Marvel comic hero with roughly $14 million.

It's already been well reported that The Punisher had locked down its release date six months ago and only recently found itself in competition with Kill Bill 2 - initially scheduled for February. While the precise reasons for the latter move by Miramax remains fuzzy, Lions Gate's decision to maintain the 4/16 launch wasn't simply stubbornness. The company didn't have a lot of wiggle room with its next release Godsend just two weeks away and with the number of national releases running more than 20% ahead of 2003 there really aren't a lot of 'good" dates for any distributor and especially an independent.

The consensus entering the frame was that Kill Bill 2 would gross around $20 million and The Punisher would trail with $10 million. Both films clearly had their sights on males under the age of 25 and that's exactly the group that bought tickets for both films. And while exit polls indicate that The Punisher remained competitive with KB2 among black and Hispanic audiences, the edge for the latter came from white and Asian men. The toe-to-toe stand literally cost each film millions and that's a particularly tough pill for LGF to swallow.

Overall weekend business of close to $105 million was flat with last weekend's Easter celebration and off 10% from 2003. Last year's comparable calendar date fell on Easter weekend when the second weekend of Anger Management led the field.

The current span also saw the national debut of Connie and Carla bow to a disappointing $3.4 million and rank 13th overall. There was considerably more interest from the press than the public as to whether star and writer Nia Vardolos would have a second big fat commercial helping and despite grudgingly positive reviews the answer was a big fat "no."

The other surprise was that the anticipated drop in business for The Passion of The Christ was even more severe than expected. While pundits foresaw its box office tumbling in half, the controversy of 2004 sank by more than 70% and now appears to be out of range of a $400 million domestic gross.

Less surprising was the 55% hit experienced by The Alamo. The film has already entered the lore of movie catastrophes and spawned countless jokes including one that has a Disney relaunch capitalizing on favorable reviews for actor Billy Bob Thornton and the new title: Bad Santa Anna.

In the specialized arena, Sony Classic's had no appreciable resistance to its NC-17 rated Young Adam that grossed a respectable $51,000 from nine venues. Also opening to OK results were Prime Media's thriller Close Call with about $12,000 from four screens and a single screen return of $5,600 for Small Planet's Gypsy 83.

Holdover titles generally had post-Easter blues that translated into declines between one-third and one-half of holiday sales. The brighter end of the spectrum was repped by Johnson Family Vacation, Home on the Range and Ella Enchanted while second weekends of both The Whole Ten Yards and The Girl Next Door were harder hit.


- by Leonard Klady


Weekend Finals - April 16-18, 2004

Title
Distrib
Weekend
% Change
Theaters
Cume
Wks
1
New
Kill Bill Vol. 2 
Miramax
25,104,949 2971 25,104,949
1
2
New
The Punisher
Lions Gate
13,834,527 2649 13,834,527
1
3
3
Johnson Family Vacation
Fox Searchlight
5,950,280 -37% 1326 20,977,918
2
4
2
Hellboy
Sony
5,652,030 -48% 2897 50,308,617
3
5
6
Home on the Range
BV
5,507,064 -32% 2735 37,782,081
3
6
7
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
WB
5,227,232 -35% 2810 72,307,969
4
7
5
Walking Tall
MGM
4,601,007 -46% 2444 36,634,257
3
8
9
Ella Enchanted
Miramax
4,241,089 -31% 1939 13,579,980
2
9
4
The Alamo
BV
4,138,571 -55% 2609 16,402,427
2
10
1
The Passion of the Christ
Newmarket
4,051,112 -73% 2848 360,761,619
7
11
8
The Whole Ten Yards
WB
3,585,434 -46% 2654 12,488,847
2
12
11
The Prince & Me
Par
3,344,157 -38% 2059 24,316,910
3
13
New
Connie and Carla
Uni
3,254,940 1014 3,254,940
1
14
10
The Girl Next Door
Fox
2,757,145 -54% 2142 11,016,963
2
15
12
The Ladykillers
BV
2,482,856 -46% 1534 34,455,415
4
16
13
Jersey Girl
Miramax
1,462,007 -51% 1428 23,530,359
4
17
14
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Focus
1,367,316 -44% 575 28,106,424
5
18
17
Starsky & Hutch
WB
824,379 -38% 702 86,035,421
7
19
15
Dawn of the Dead
Uni
729,265 -62% 688 56,965,120
5
20
18
Hidalgo
BV
648,739 -42% 532 64,065,370
7
21
16
Taking Lives
WB
644,459 -58% 492 31,663,637
5
22
20
Nascar: The Imax Experience
WB
547,325 -29% 72 8,392,446
6
23
21
Dans une galaxie pres de chez vous
TVA
348,952 -46% 73 1,365,706
2
24
19
Secret Window
Sony
346,294 -62% 298 46,902,635
6
25
50
Mystic River
WB
337,030 455% 408 89,419,875
28
26
25
Barbershop 2: Back in Business
MGM
242,373 9% 384 63,525,406
11
27
24
Good Bye, Lenin!
Sony Class/Seville
229,083 -16% 106 2,131,098
8
28
22
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
New Line
227,321 -21% 295 376,058,551
18
29
27
Monsieur Ibrahim
Sony Class/TVA
170,852 -14% 92 1,967,391
19
30
23
50 First Dates
Sony
155,846 -43% 166 119,067,547
9
31
26
Dogville
Lions Gate
148,813 -27% 63 719,234
4
32
37
Bon Voyage
Sony Classics
142,809 29% 41 488,493
5
33
28
Agent Cody Banks: Destination London
MGM
139,042 -30% 334 23,222,861
6
34
33
Bugs!
SK Film
127,817 2% 25 6,841,696
58
35
31
Cheaper by the Dozen
Fox
110,265 -24% 165 138,344,908
17
36
38
Space Station
Imax
108,003 2% 16 49,480,501
105
37
34
Touching the Void
IFC
105,582 -14% 89 3,929,360
12
38
32
Confessions of Teenage Drama Queen
BV
95,156 -25% 189 29,058,170
9
39
35
Intermission
IFC
88,218 -25% 69 579,085
5
40
30
Masti
Eros
85,674 -47% 29 267,023
2
41
56
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring …
Sony Classics
66,288 36% 13 202,395
3
42
48
Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey
Giant Screen
64,148 -5% 12 6,198,695
79
43
45
My Baby's Daddy
Miramax
63,071 -13% 44 17,504,586
15
44
44
The Butterfly Effect
New Line
60,082 -18% 121 57,761,854
13
45
40
The Triplets of Belleville
Sony Class/Allian
59,472 -42% 57 7,006,502
22
46
39
Miracle
BV
59,204 -43% 142 64,256,646
11
47
46
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Lions Gate
59,111 -15% 59 11,505,906
19
48
42
My Architect
New York/Mongl
54,594 -31% 30 2,312,542
23
49
29
Never Die Alone
Fox Searchlight
53,141 -68% 71 5,531,230
4
50
43
Big Fish
Sony
53,083 -31% 86 66,619,233
19
51
70
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
Lions Gate/Odeon
50,671 72% 127 14,140,215
8
52
New
Young Adam
Sony Classics
50,278 9 50,278
1
53
57
I'm Not Scared
Miramax
48,080 -1% 5 109,425
2
54
41
You Got Served
Sony
45,271 -48% 72 40,153,474
12
55
51
La Grande seduction
Alliance
44,281 -25% 14 7,492,625
41
56
53
Osama
MGM/TVA
43,489 -20% 36 1,202,628
11
57
60
T-Rex: Back to the Cretacious
Imax
38,704 -4% 4 47,807,536
287
58
52
Master and Commander
Fox
37,145 -34% 65 93,864,607
23
59
47
Le Dernier Tunnel
Christal
37,106 -46% 37 1,251,647
6
60
55
The Fog of War
Sony Classics
36,803 -29% 42 4,052,471
18
61
36
The United States of Leland
Par Classics
36,764 -69% 80 273,411
3
62
58
Monster
Newmarket
34,580 -27% 85 34,336,951
17
63
Re
Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
Art.Lic./Mongrel
33,263 9 547,367
31
64
72
The Corporation
Mongrel
28,338 13% 8 983,824
14
65
82
The Best Two Years
HaleStone
27,236 68% 15 650,469
9
66
69
Broken Wings
Sony Classics
26,202 -12% 14 175,522
6
67
54
The Barbarian Invasions
Alliance/Miramax
24,887 -52% 38 8,536,190
50
68
62
Mayor of the Sunset Strip
IDP
24,363 -34% 17 141,447
4
69
63
Ghosts of the Abyss
BV
23,835 -35% 9 15,829,241
54
70
64
Shaolin Soccer
Miramax
21,936 -36% 6 129,514
3
71
94
Greendale
Abramorama
20,072 142% 6 147,356
8
72
61
Latter Days
TLA
20,598 -48% 13 660,425
12
73
79
Haunted Castle
nWave
19,245 4% 5 8,307,611
165
74
66
Tais-toi
Christal
18,839 -45% 14 312,824
4

 

Weekend Estimates - April 16-18, 2004

Title
Distributor
Gross (average)
% change
Theaters
Cume
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Miramax
24.9 (8,370)
- 2971 24.9
The Punisher
Lions Gate
14.1 (5,330)
- 2649 14.1
Johnson Family Vacation
Fox Searchlight
6.1 (4,580)
-35% 1326 21.1
Home on the Range
BV
5.5 (2,010)
-32% 2735 37.8
Hellboy
Sony
5.4 (1,860)
-50% 2897 50
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
WB
5.3 (1,880)
-34% 2810 72.4
Walking Tall
MGM
4.5 (1,830)
-47% 2444 36.5
The Passion of the Christ
Newmarket
4.4 (1,540)
-71% 2848 361.1
Ella Enchanted
Miramax
4.3 (2,230)
-30% 1939 13.7
The Alamo
BV
4.1 (1,560)
-55% 2609 16.3
The Prince & Me
Par
3.7 (1,780)
-32% 2059 24.6
The Whole Ten Yards
WB
3.6 (1,360)
-46% 2654 12.5
Connie and Carla
Uni
3.4 (3,360)
- 1014 3.4
The Girl Next Door
Fox
2.8 (1,290)
-54% 2148 11
The Ladykillers
BV
2.4 (1,580)
-47%