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

Weekend Estimates They Call Me, Mr. Parker Spider-Man 2 reigned on King Arthur's parade as it added an estimated $46.9 million to its coffers and handily won the weekend viewing sweepstakes. There was also good news for the low brow Anchorman that placed second in the lineup but while it wasn't La Morte d'Artur the distant third place finish for King Arthur was a decided disappointment. The results for the teen comedy Sleepover were also less than stellar and the battle of the sexes comedy Camping Sauvage proved a summer tonic for Quebec viewers. Spider-Man 2 fell 47% in its second weekend and in the increasingly crowded and brutal summer playtime the result seemed rather mild. The picture breezed passed $250 million in its 12th day of release to beat the speed record previously established at 13 days by Shrek 2. The web spinner was also afire internationally where it was looking at a $53 million gross in 50 territories. Among the debuting territories were boffo results of $12.6 million in Japan and $9.4 million in Germany. The overseas cume is estimated at $115.7 million. Expectations were high for the inane antics of Will Ferrell as a vain, insufferable news broadcaster in Anchorman with some pundits predicting opening numbers as high as $35 million. It arrived with just shy of $29 million but could hardly be considered a disappointment even with Saturday box office dipping 10% from opening day. King Arthur - claiming to be more historical than the legend of Camelot - got a head start on the weekend with a Wednesday debut. It entered the frame with $8.4 million and added $14.9 million to its takings. Largely excoriated by the critics, the big hurdle the film failed to clear was drawing in other than its core young male crowd. That same audience was fixated on Spider-Man 2 and Anchorman to the detriment of Excalibur-Man and that was very bad news for Disney's major seasonal attraction. The marketplace itself was holding its own as a result of strong holds for continuing titles and the mainstream presence of such older appeal fare as Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Notebook. The Michael Moore film ascended to $78.9 million and now ranks as the biggest grossing non-fiction film in a conventional format. Overall business should clock in with slightly better than $150 million for a modest 10% decline placed alongside the 3-day span of last weekend's 4-day holiday period. It was also a 3% improvement from 2003 when Bad Boys II (also from Arthur producer Jerry Bruckheimer) bowed to $46.5 million and Johnny English debuted in 5th spot with $9.1 million. The session's fourth national freshman release, the teen comedy Sleepover, had an uninspired $4.2 million to nip into position number 10. However, there was dynamic response to the romantic comedy Camping Sauvage in Quebec that translated into a theater average of more than $7,000. Despite a title with horror connotations, the yarn deals with the age old situation of opposites attracting under bizarre circumstances. There was also torrid activity in the niches with the Cole Porter homage De-Lovely maintaining a potent $14,000 plus average at 24 venues and the bow of the musical portrait Metallica: Some Kind of Monster grossing roughly $53,000 from three screens. Also debuting Friday was the surfing documentary Riding Giants that rode the wave to $170,000 in 26 locations. Fox Searchlight's Sundance acquisition Napoleon Dynamite continued to hold its own with a $530,000 weekend and $1.7 million cume but its star powered thriller The Clearing was beginning to show strains as it expanded from 56 to 261 theaters and saw its screen average cut in half. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - July 9-11, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Spider-Man 2	Sony	46.9 (11,250)	-47%	4166	258.1
Anchorman	DreamWorks	28.5 (9,230)	=	3091	28.5
King Arthur	BV	14.9 (4,830)	=	3086	23.4
Fahrenheit 9/11	LGF/Alliance	10.5 (5,220)	-36%	2011	78.9
White Chicks	Sony	6.4 (2.930)	-26%	2201	57.1
The Notebook	New Line	6.3 (2,770)	-15%	2288	42.6
Dodgeball: A True Underdog's Story	Fox	5.3 (2,180)	-34%	2444	97.5
The Terminal	DreamWorks	5.0 (2,170)	-36%	2313	6.3
Shrek 2	DreamWorks	4.4 (2,070)	-24%	2142	418.5
Sleepover	MGM	4.2 (1,890)	=	2207	4.2
Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban	WB	4.1 (2,070)	-30%	2002	232.9
Garfield	Fox	1.7 (990)	-45%	1681	67.7
Two Brothers	Uni	1.2 (960)	-55%	1272	15.7
The Stepford Wives	Par	1.1 (1,050)	-53%	1033	56.6
The Clearing	Fox Searchlight	1.1 (4,060)	124%	261	1.8
The Day After Tomorrow	Fox	1.0 (1,400)	-50%	728	182.1
Camping Sauvage	Alliance	.70 (7,070)		99	0.7
Before Sunset	WIP	.55 (8,730)	150%	63	0.95
Napoleon Dynamite	Fox Searchlight	.53 (3,760)	3%	141	1.7
The Chronicles of Riddick	Uni	.52 (1,000)	-61%	520	55.7
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)	=	$144.90	=
% Change (Last Year)	=	4%	=
% Change (Last Week)	=	-10%	=
Also Debuting/Expanding
De-Lovely	MGM	.34 (14,170)	16%	24	0.85
Riding Giants	Sony Classics	.17 (6,500)	=	26	0.17
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster	IFC	53,200 (17,730)	=	3	0.05