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

Weekend Estimates Summer Market Share Domestic Market Share Zero to Hero All's well that ends well. Despite close to two years of aborted release plans and more campaign strategies than you can shake a blade at, China's Hero debuted at the top of weekend movie going with an estimated $17.9 million. It was a surprising upbeat result in a field of fair to poor bows in what's traditionally been the season's dumping ground of remorseful productions. Second place went to the horror sequel Anacondas with an OK result of $12.9 million while the other national freshmen - Suspect Zero and Superbabies: Super Geniuses 2 - where battling it out for scraps with respective estimates of $3.3 million and $3.2 million. There was a clutch of regional and limited releases with largely undistinguished returns and some steep declines for a handful of continuing titles. Overall business should tally to slightly more than $100 million that represented a 13% erosion from the immediate prior frame. It was surprisingly 1% ahead of 2003 that corresponded with the Labor Day weekend (for the 3-day period). Last year the sole newcomer was Jeepers Creepers 2 with a gross of $15.3 million for the three days. Hero, a period adventure drama, opened in Asia in the Fall of 2002 and set records in Mainland China that have only recently fallen to House of Flying Daggers, also directed by Zhang Yimou. It set records for a Chinese movie in Japan and grossed slightly more than $100 million internationally. It was also an Oscar foreign-language nominee and it was anticipated Miramax would schedule a Spring 2003 opening to capitalize on award's heat. However, that didn't occur and in retrospect may have fallen through the cracks because it coincided with the period when Harvey Weinstein's had health issues. Release dates were announced and rescinded as well as plans to open wide in a dubbed version and myriad edits for the U.S. audience. In the end a bold decision was made for a wide, sub-titled release that rang in second only to Passion of the Christ in the size and gross it generated. It was an excellent roll of the dice. The trio of other national debs opened without much enthusiasm from either their distributors or the public. The best one can say is that the horror sequel Anacondas is that it's a "snake movie." Its inspiration was unexpectedly potent while its successor is what used to be called a two-week picture. Similarly, Superbabies is the follow up to another film that performed better than anticipated but failed to strike twice theatrically. It should be considerably more viable on video. Last and almost least, Suspect Zero was a thriller that failed to spark with audiences and its distrib found an appropriately inconspicuous time to release the film. The film had a long development history and no one was ever able to overcome plot inconsistencies or raise the level of excitement to engage crowds. Without a Paddle had a better than expected sophomore session while Exorcist: The Beginning collapsed 62% in its second weekend. Another film experiencing a fast fade is Open Water that began with exceptional returns in limited exposure. Its current frame had a 60% decline. The situation was no better for the regional and limited freshmen. The broad release of French crime sequel Crimson Rivers 2 wilted in Quebec with a $110,000 salvo from 47 theaters while another French import, Elles etaient cinq (She Was Five), had more encouraging results with an $80,000 gross from 10 venues. Bollywood also provided a pair of films to indifferent response and the same rang true for a number of American independents including the family friendly Grand Champion with $16,100 from five screens and Chooch grossing $11,000 from three playdates. Controversy provided a slight edge for the Cannes premiered The Brown Bunny that tallied up to about $50,000 from three engagements. Vincent Gallo's follow up to Buffalo 66 was deemed as the worst film ever invited to the French fest but the filmmaker-actor's subsequent re-edit has been more positively received. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - Ending August 22, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Hero	Miramax	17.9 (8,820)	-	2031	17.9
Anacondas	Sony	12.9 (4,450)		2905	12.9
Without a Paddle	Par	8.2 (3,010)	-39%	2730	27.3
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement	BV	8.0 (2,410)	-39%	3331	75
Exorcist: The Beginning	WB	6.8 (2,430)	-62%	2813	30.8
Collateral	DreamWorks	6.4 (2,340)	-37%	2728	80
The Bourne Supremacy	Uni	4.7 (2,250)	-28%	2079	157.8
Open Waters	Lions Gate	4.6 (1,710)	-60%	2709	23.1
Alien vs. Predator	Fox	4.5 (1,550)	-64%	2880	71.7
Suspect Zero	Par	3.3 (2,220)		1500	3.3
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2	Sony	3.2 (2,520)		1276	3.2
The Manchurian Candidate	Par	2.9 (1,930)	-29%	1484	59
Garden State	Fox Searchlight	2.7 (3,610)	-11%	745	10.7
Napoleon Dynamite	Fox Searchlight	2.1 (2,950)	16%	706	22.4
The Village	BV	1.8 (1,150)	-52%	1560	110.4
Spider-Man 2	Sony	1.6 (1,360)	-34%	1186	367.8
Yu-Gi-Oh!	WB	1.3 (600)	-61%	2120	18
I, Robot	Fox	1.2 (1,190)	-51%	1003	140.5
Little Black Book	Sony	.66 (860)	-56%	767	19.8
The Notebook	New Line	.58 (1,200)	-25%	481	77.4
Benji On the Leash	Benji Release	.56 (740)	-63%	759	2.7
De-Lovely	MGM	.50 (1,610)	-13%	307	11.6
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$96.40	-
% Change (Last Year)		-13%	-
% Change (Last Week)		1%	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Maria Full of Grace	New Line	.37 (3,010)	-19%	123	3.9
Crimson Rivers 2	TVA	.11 (2,370)		47	0.11
Dhoom	Yash Raj	.10 (3,220)		32	0.1
Elles etait cinq	Alliance	80,600 (8,060)		10	0.08
The Brown Bunny	Wellspring	49,400 (16,470)		3	0.05
Phir Milenge	UTV	27,800 (1,030)		27	0.03
Grand Champion	Innovation	16,100 (3,220)		5	0.02
Chooch	Artist.Licence	11,020 (3,670)		3	0.01

Summer Market Share - May 13 - August 19, 2004

Distributor	Gross	Percentage	Change 2003
DreamWorks	659.3	19.90%	2263%
Fox	578.3	17.50%	230%
Warner Bros.	504.7	15.20%	6%
Sony	476.5	14.40%	10%
Universal	284.2	8.60%	-59%
Buena Vista	270.2	8.10%	-61%
Paramount	151.1	4.60%	-23%
Lions Gate	104.9	3.20%	854%
New Line	100.1	3.00%	27%
MGM	48.4	1.50%	-53%
Fox Searchlight	28.6	0.90%	-58%
Alliance	23.7	0.70%	112%
Other	81	2.40%	-10%
	3311	99.99%	6%

 

Domestic Market Share - January 1 - August 20, 2004

Sony (16)	935.8	14.80%
Warner Bros. (25)	862.3	13.70%
Fox (12)	785.7	12.40%
DreamWorks (8)	715.1	11.30%
Buena Vista (20)	592	9.40%
Universal (13)	538.4	8.50%
Newmarket (3)	404.9	6.40%
New Line (10)	300.1	4.80%
Paramount (10)	295.6	4.70%
Miramax (16)	216.6	3.40%
MGM (11)	181.5	2.90%
Lions Gate (15)	180.2	2.90%
Fox Searchlight (8)	82.7	1.30%
Focus (5)	62	1.00%
Alliance (10)	38.7	0.60%
Other * (156)	120.4	1.90%
* none greater than .4%	6312	100.00%