..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

It Takes a Village! Following a string of disappointments, Disney ascended to the top of the charts with its spookfest The Village that grossed an estimated $51.1 million. There was also positive response for the debut of The Manchurian Candidate; a disappointing bow for the stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and a decided lack of interest for the family adventure Thunderbirds. The quartet was in the vanguard for a weekend tally of approximately $150 million that was on par with the immediate prior weekend business. It also spurred box office upward by 6% from 2003 when the launch of American Wedding led the field with $33.3 million and the $3.8 million debut of Gigli generated endless humorous jabs and the seeds of the end of Ben & Jen. Though largely deemed an artistic disappointment or worse by reviewers, The Village was both a tonic for the beleaguered Mouse House and a sizeable audience magnet. The film was wisely marketed to the past successes of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan though some hold out hope the pic will reinvigorate the career of William Hurt a la Jon Voight's segue from lead to character roles. Opening day receipts mirrored those of both I, Robot and The Bourne Supremacy but rather than receiving a small sales bump Saturday, declined by about 15%. Nonetheless, it's headed toward a $100 million plus performance. The Bourne sequel edged out The Manchurian Candidate for second spot and its 55% sophomore decline was deemed good news in a summer where 60% erosion has been the norm. And while the Candidate's $19.6 million initial foray was in line with expectations, industry consensus questioned the wisdom of opening the film between Bourne and next weekend's Collateral. With the possible exception of Shrek 2, the political thriller has corralled the best critical response of the season. With a significant number of schools in the South and Mid-west poised to reopen in two weeks, the past weekend was the last major beachhead for youth appeal movies. Despite one of the summer's most clever campaigns, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle failed to attract a significant young, hip crowd and ranked seventh with $5.2 million and a disappointing $2,400 theater average. However, while the film still has potential as a niche performer, Thunderbirds was grounded by disinterest from pre-teens and tweens. Its $2.8 million gross and 12th spot in the lineup force a rethink of the campaign and a redub to Thunderbirds Are Went! The frame also saw significant activity in the specialized arena as it gears up for its traditionally buoyant fall season. The social drama Maria Full of Grace expanded from seven to 65 theaters and maintained a potent $8,260 theater average. There were also modest expansion for such films as Before Sunset, De-Lovely and Napoleon Dynamite that maintained each film's strength and profile. Most impressive of the weekend bows was Searchlight's Garden State that rang up a $21,000 average from nine locations. The Sundance preemed comedy-drama got a jump start on the weekend with a Wednesday launch and an excellent pre-frame gross of $81,000. Also strong was the launch of French import Intimate Strangers with five U.S. theaters and four more in Quebec that rang up $76,000. In a rare reversal, American engagements proved more potent accounting for about 70% of the total. The Quebec debut of the French action comedy RRRrrr! Was also soft with a $61,500 gross from 23 playdates. Spike Lee's latest, She Hate Me failed to translate controversy into viewers and its 11-theater run generated no better than a fair $56,000 return. And adding a whistle stop in Los Angeles, the rock doc Festival Express was decidedly tuneful with $76,000 from L.A. and San Francisco exclusives. - by Leonard Klady