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

Weekend Estimates Top Canadian Grosses Domestic Market Share Taxicab Fare Hikes Collateral was in the front seat of weekend film going as it cruised to an estimated $24.6 million. The frame also saw a mediocre bow for the comedy-lite Little Black Book that grossed about $7 million. However, stealing the thunder of the frame was the low budget indie thriller Open Water with a $1 million bow and close to $22,000 theater average. While there was good news on an anecdotal basis, overall business of about $116 million was a decided downturn from the prior weekend and ticket sales in 2003. Following three weeks of boffo premieres, the Collateral ride dipped 28% from the immediate prior frame and sank 19% from 12 months earlier. In 2003, SWAT bowed to $37 million with Freaky Friday in the place position with $22 million. The premieres roughly doubled the past weekend's openers. The domestic marketplace passed $6 million Saturday, roughly 10 days ahead of the pace set in 2003. The summer season is still significantly ahead of last year's performance by 14% and around 9% better in terms of attendance. Anticipation for the Tom Cruise-Jamie Foxx thriller match up was high, though not in the same strata as such recent entries as I, Robot and The Bourne Identity. Industry tracking suggested Collateral would debut with a gross in the mid-$20 million range but stellar critical response, a full press ad campaign and less ferocious marketplace competition had many predicting a weekend tally of more than $30 million. One industry wag suggested ironically that pre-Olympics anticipation curbed Collateral's momentum but certainly some of its audience appeared to detour to Bourne and The Manchurian Candidate. The tepid fifth place finish of Little Black Book was also anticipated with the film's concept readily appreciated but drawing little heat. Its fungible quality reflects upcoming releases hoping to generate a little extra box office at the end of the summer season. This is also the time of year when alternative fare positions itself for the buoyant fall movie going period. While not targeted to the core specialized audience, Open Water tapped into a vein of thrillseekers to great effect. It stands to reap big rewards almost immediately with mainstream playdates and an easily appreciated yarn of two people abandoned at sea and menaced by sharks. Summer 2004 has been a big thumbs up for films acquired at Sundance that, in addition to Open Water, include Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite and Maria Full of Grace. All three continue to expand and maintain strong business with Napoleon emerging as one of the biggest niche success of the year to date. Sophomore frame titles performed predictably with The Village taking a major 67% hit and The Manchurian Candidate and Harold & Kumar hemorrhaging by half form their opening salvos. The hectic release pace of niche titles continued with the regional premiere of Saints and Soldiers registering an OK $100,000 from 25 Utah venues. The tale of heroism and faith set in the closing days of the European campaign during the Second World War faces a stiff challenge of securing dates beyond the Heartland. Publicity and familiarity provided a solid boost for the documentary Outfoxed with a frame average of $14,300 from four engagements. The slam at Fox Cable News should be able to expand to other major news based on first response. The news was not as fierce for other debutants with the sci-fi drama Code 46 grossing $18,400 at three locations, the offbeat drama Stander generating a wan $17,300 from seven theaters and the single screen for the Asian epic Bang Rajan limping to $3,400. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - Ending August 8, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Collateral	DmWks	24.6 (7,720)	-	3188	24.6
The Village	BV	16.5 (4,400)	-67%	3733	85.7
The Bourne Supremecy	Uni	14.3 (4,320)	-41%	3304	124.5
The Manchurian Candidate	Par	10.6 (3,700)	-47%	2867	38.3
Little Black Book	Sony	7.0 (2,850)	-	2445	7
I, Robot	Fox	6.5 (2,300)	-38%	2806	126.9
Spider-Man 2	Sony	5.6 (2,190)	-35%	2564	354.7
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle	New Line	3.1 (1,450)	-43%	2163	12.2
A Cinderella Story	WB	3.0 (1,450)	-38%	2065	47
Catwoman	WB	2.8 (1,260)	-56%	2275	36
Fahrenheit 9/11	LGF/Alliance	2.1 (2,040)	-34%	1009	113.4
The Notebook	New Line	1.9 (1,500)	-30%	1255	72.3
Napoleon Dynamite	Fox Searchlight	1.7 (3,150)	23%	546	12.5
Anchorman	DreamWorks	1.7 (1,260)	-45%	1370	82
Thunderbirds	Uni	1.2 (570)	-57%	2062	5.6
Open Water	Lions Gate	1.0 (21,800)	-	47	1
Shrek 2	DreamWorks	1.0 (1,180)	-27%	812	434.5
De-Lovely	MGM	.92 (2,240)	-23%	410	8.6
Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban	WB	.75 (1,840)	-24%	409	245.4
King Arthur	BV	.57 (1,190)	-61%	480	50.1
Garden State	Fox Searchlight	.55 (15,600)	174%	35	0.97
Maria Full of Grace	New Line	.51 (5,310)	-3%	96	1.8
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$107.90	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-19%	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	-28%	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Before Sunset	WIP	.47 (2,300)	-11%	202	3.2
The Door in the Floor	Focus	.24 (1,780)	-34%	134	2.4
Saints and Soldiers	Excel	.10 (4,120)	-	25	0.1
Outfoxed	Cinemalibre	57,300 (14,330)	-	4	0.06
Code 46	MGM	18,400 (6,140)	-	3	0.02
Stander	Newmarket	17,300 (2,470)	-	7	0.02
Bang Rajan	Magnolia	3,400 (3,400)	-	1	0.01

 

Top Canadian Releases - January 1 - August 5, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (millions)	% Domestic
Shrek 2	DmWks	40,380,348	9.30%
Spider-Man 2	Sony	35,210,432	10.10%
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban	WB	30,517,351	12.50%
The Passion of the Christ	Equinox	24,185,997	6.50%
Lord of the Rings: Return of King *	Alliance	21,892,922	10%
Troy	WB	19,311,766	14.50%
Fahrenheit 9/11	Alliance	17,671,659	15.90%
The Day After Tomorrow	Fox	17,035,867	9.20%
50 First Dates	Sony	14,300,677	11.80%
The Bourne Identity	Uni	12,096,339	11%
Starsky & Hutch	WB	10,587,495	12%
Van Helsing	Uni	10,421,983	8.70%
Kill Bill, Vol. 2	Alliance	10,048,108	15.20%
I, Robot	Fox	9,869,469	8.20%
The Butterfly Effect	Alliance	9,591,468	16.50%
Along Came Polly	Uni	9,041,994	10.30%
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story	Fox	8,773,150	7.90%
The Notebook	Alliance	8,369,456	11.90%
Mean Girls	Par	8,309,226	9.70%
Hidalgo	BV	7,962,506	11.80%
* does not include 2003 box office Figures in CDN

Domestic Market Share - January 1 - August 5, 2004

Sony (15)	904.4	15.30%
Warner Bros. (23)	834.1	14.10%
Fox (12)	716.5	12.10%
DreamWorkd (7)	648.6	10.90%
Buena Vista (19)	507.4	8.60%
Universal (13)	501.5	8.50%
Newmarket (3)	404.8	6.80%
New Line (10)	285.7	4.80%
Paramount (10)	272.1	4.60%
Miramax (16)	216.3	3.60%
MGM (10)	178.7	3.00%
Lions Gate (14)	173.3	2.90%
Fox Searchlight (8)	72.9	1.20%
Focus (5)	61.2	1.00%
Alliance (9)	36.9	0.60%
Sony Classics (16)	26.6	0.50%
Other * (137)	87.7	1.50%
* none greater than .4%	5928.7	100.00%