..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Finals
The Mean Season … As If
Mean Girls strutted their stuff and it was considerable as the hip, teen comedy led the weekend with an estimated $24.6 million. However, an additional quartet of national debutants took poor seconds in a generally tepid marketplace bracing for the onslaught of summer releases that begins next weekend with Van Helsing.
It was back to school for Paramount with Mean Girls … and not a moment to soon. The studio's last hit was School of Rock and the current success echoed back to Clueless. It's also worth noting that it's had a long string of films targeted to teenage girls thanks to its synergistic hook up with MTV, but this caustic valentine is tied to Saturday Night Live. And, not surprisingly, exit polls indicated its audience was 70% female and 50% teen. That demo found its movie.
The new teen fave also took a large bite out of last weekened's frosh entry 13 Going on 30 but the second frame of the psychological thriller Man on Fire held well, ranking second with an estimated $15 million.
Overall business should tally in at slightly more than $100 million for a modest 1% bump from seven days later but was a significant 36% down from the 2003 slate. One year ago, the summer got an early bang with the $85.6 million bow of X2: X-Men United and Disney's counter programming of Lizzie Maguire debuting second with $17.3 million.
A trio of the new releases clustered behind the top three with the romantic comedy Laws of Attraction and the chiller Godsend in a tight race for fourth spot. Godsend was the clear winner Friday but slipped behind the Pierce Brosnan-Julianne Moore outing on Saturday and the Omen for it darkens today. Laws of Attraction looks to be roughly $100,000 ahead for the three days with $6.8 million and both films registered disappointing theater averages just shy of $3,000.
DreamWork's ironically titled Envy engendered little of that emotion as the social satire scraped out about $6 million in the crowded marketplace. Still, it was generally a title challenged frame with Godsend generating less than angelic grosses and Laws of Attraction defying commercial magnetism.
Also on the casualty list was the biopic Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius on the 1920s golf legend. It grossed about $1.1 million in the round played without a handicap to theater averages of less than $1,000 and was the sort of grand slam one doesn't want in the movie arena.
The weekend was also quite active with specialized and regional fare. The latest from Bollywood, Eros Entertainment's Main Hoon Ha, was tuneful with close to $600,000 from 85 engagements and Alliance's latest Quebec offering Monica la Mitraille had a fair start of $260,000 from 88 screens.
The kid's baseball entry Mickey, produced and written by John Grisham, entered six markets and managed to hit a single with a gross of about $77,000 from 42 venues.
In specialized outings, The Saddest Music in the World hit the right note in its debut on four screens (three in Canada) with an estimated $52,000. Comparatively speaking, it marks a commercial breakthrough for filmmaker Guy Madden. Zeitgeist's fest fave Since Otar Left deposited a respectable $11,000 from two Manhattan locations and in a season marked by "he has risen," the reissue of Monty Python's The Life of Brian resurrected an impressive $27,500 from four playdates.
Weekend Finals - April 30-May 2, 2004
Title Mean Girls 24,432,195 2839 24,432,195 Man on Fire 15,012,405 -34% 2986 44,295,221 13 Going on 30 9,876,246 -53% 3453 35,060,728 Godsend 6,800,617 2323 6,800,617 Laws of Attraction 6,728,905 2449 6,728,905 Envy 6,160,886 2445 660,886 Kill Bill Vol. 2 5,858,536 -44% 2674 52,654,119 The Punisher 3,499,450 -44% 2267 29,740,972 Home on the Range 2,306,510 -35% 2010 45,597,280 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed 2,289,484 -33% 1915 79,672,914 Johnson Family Vacation 1,950,561 -37% 1116 27,491,672 Hellboy 1,845,434 -41% 2218 57,508,487 Ella Enchanted 1,766,395 -40% 1923 19,748,866 Walking Tall 1,548,237 -42% 1589 42,790,414 The Passion of the Christ 1,407,651 -37% 1832 366,685,267 Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius 1,233,297 1332 1,233,297 The Alamo 843,528 -59% 936 21,215,774 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 807,363 -27% 406 30,928,429 The Ladykillers 715,552 -52% 1204 37,911,776 Main Hoon Na 704,651 79 704,651 Connie and Carla 631,750 -61% 722 7,157,515 Nascar: The Imax Experience 518,891 1% 72 9,861,135 The Whole Ten Yards 442,472 -70% 575 15,857,113 Clifford's Really Big Movie 431,124 -35% 471 2,443,201 The Girl Next Door 412,538 -63% 390 13,938,527 The Prince & Me 331,109 -76% 855 27,156,206 Hidalgo 328,432 -28% 310 65,181,950 Monica la mitraille 323,752 99 323,752 Starsky & Hutch 296,667 -15% 325 87,003,483 Dawn of the Dead 255,630 -35% 299 58,029,460 Secret Window 210,406 27% 263 47,415,999 Barbershop 2: Back in Business 205,969 19% 342 64,019,335 Good Bye, Lenin! 201,880 -27% 117 2,792,316 Jersey Girl 163,899 -70% 423 24,851,363 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 154,631 -21% 221 376,556,583 Mystic River 152,372 -19% 275 89,967,416 Bon Voyage 141,958 -4% 56 872,677 Bugs! 141,836 3% 27 7,394,580 Dans une galaxie pres de chez vous 139,967 -40% 74 1,923,274 I'm Not Scared 135,884 2% 43 444,091 50 First Dates 125,143 -25% 110 119,447,383 Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring … 122,116 12% 41 505,915 L'Incomparable Mademoiselle C 118,891 -31% 77 342,110 Taking Lives 108,398 -54% 87 32,320,749 Monsieur Ibrahim 100,493 -21% 76 2,257,161 Dogville 89,195 -36% 67 1,074,285 Touching the Void 83,064 -25% 85 4,228,248 Space Station 78,555 -17% 18 49,917,749 Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey 76,518 6% 13 6,347,370 Mickey 75,235 42 75,235 Silmido 73,276 33% 7 165,584 Young Adam 71,409 58% 24 213,980 Agent Cody Banks: Destination London 58,408 -20% 120 23,396,961 Confessions of Teenage Drama Queen 55,951 -21% 125 29,227,473 Intermission 52,034 -16% 59 755,118 The Triplets of Belleville 47,304 -15% 55 7,175,991 Cheaper by the Dozen 45,081 -37% 100 138,507,634 The Saddest Music in the World 43,720 6 43,720 Kill Bill Vol. 1 43,265 -36% 107 70,050,813 My Architect 42,766 -30% 28 2,470,575 The Corporation 41,578 -13% 12 1,141,491 You Got Served 39,539 -28% 53 40,272,264 The Agronomist 39,373 28% 21 83,104 Shaolin Soccer 38,946 11% 13 223,144 Osama 33,250 -19% 31 1,311,586 Big Fish 33,216 -22% 50 66,741,614 Twisted 30,663 -56% 117 25,106,948 La Grande seduction 29,902 -24% 12 7,602,658 The Barbarian Invasions 28,681 -19% 53 8,652,913 Miracle 26,524 -47% 73 64,371,181 The Life of Brian (reissue) 26,376 4 26,376 Girl with a Pearl Earring 25,969 -9% 42 11,634,262 Mayor of the Sunset Strip 25,259 57% 18 201,315 The Butterfly Effect 24,843 -14% 57 57,858,323 Pride & Prejudice 24,192 20 347,071 Broken Wings 23,071 -29% 17 253,719 My Baby's Daddy 22,615 -51% 29 17,598,419 The Fog of War 22,081 -19% 33 4,140,344 The Twilight Samurai 21,797 159% 5 33,891 The Best Two Years 20,054 -33% 20 748,023 T-Rex: Back to the Cretacious 19,035 -17% 4 47,916,742
Estimates - April 30 - May 2, 2004
Title Mean Girls - 2839 24.6 Man on Fire -34% 2986 44.3 13 Going on 30 -52% 3453 35.2 Laws of Attraction - 2449 6.8 Godsend - 2323 6.7 Envy - 2445 6 Kill Bill Vol. 2 -46% 2742 52.6 The Punisher -45% 2267 29.7 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed -35% 1915 79.6 Home on the Range -40% 2010 45.4 Johnson Family Vacation -38% 1116 27.5 Hellboy -43% 1563 57.4 The Passion of the Christ -24% 1832 367 Ella Enchanted -48% 1923 19.5 Walking Tall -50% 1589 42.6 Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius 1332 1.1 The Alamo -57% 936 21.2 Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind -31% 406 30.9 The Ladykillers -54% 764 37.9 Connie and Carla -63% 722 7.1 Main Hoon Na - 82 0.57 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) -