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

Weekend Estimates Oh! The Horror The shock of a new season found two premiering thrillers scaring up business with Resident Evil: Apocalypse leading the way with an estimated $24.2 million and Cellular trailing with about $10.5 million. However, overall business was soft and the weekend tally is unlikely to generate more than $78 million in ticket sales for an 11% drop from the Friday-Sunday span of last week's Labor Day holiday frame. Revenues also declined from 2003 by roughly 10% when the box office leader Once Upon a Time in Mexico rang in with $23.4 million and Matchstick Men bowed with $13.1 million. The Resident Evil sequel eclipsed the original's $17.7 million opening with Sony doing a very effective marketing campaign on the co-production with Germany's Constantin Film. The stellar performance also pushed the number one ranked market share company's overall gross for the year past $1 billion. The results for New Line's aggressively promoted Cellular proved disappointing and anticipated sharp declines will make it difficult for the picture to have a lifetime domestic box office of $30 million. Holdover business was unexceptional with most titles experiencing declines of about 50%. However, that created a traffic jam in which seven films grossing between $2.5 million and $2.8 million were clubbing it out for top 10 ranking. The only certainty is that when actuals are announced Monday, adjustments will have to be made. Action was also brisk in specialized and regional openings with Warner Independent generating a just OK launch of the confidence scam Criminal with a $270,000 gross at 77 venues. There was also indifferent response of $110,000 for the latest from Bollywood, Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha. The Canadian teen comedy Intern Academy proved anemic with an $86,000 gross from 111 theaters. Best of the limited freshmen were Palm's Danish import Reconstruction and the gay-themed Testisterone. Both films registered screen averages of close to $6,500 from respectively two and four screens. IFC's American indie When Will I Be Loved? had a $26,000 tally from eight playdates and Thinkfilm's non-fiction September Tapes rang in with $7,800 from 10 outings. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - September 10-12, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Resident Evil: Apocalypse	Sony	24.5 (7,470)	-	3284	24.5
Cellular	New  Line	11.5 (4,170)	-	2749	11.5
Hero	Miramax	4.9 (2,260)	-44%	2175	42
Without a Paddle	Par	4.4 (1,590)	-38%	2754	45.4
Collateral	DmWks	2.9 (1,430)	-42%	2024	92.9
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement	BV	2.8 (1,120)	-50%	2452	89.1
Vanity Fair	Focus	2.7 (2,540)	-45%	1054	11.1
Anacondas	Sony	2.7 (940)	-58%	2905	27.4
Paparazzi	Fox	2.6 (1,030)	-57%	2544	11.9
Wicker Park	MGM	2.5 (960)	-54%	2598	10.4
Napoleon Dynamite	Fox Searchlight	2.5 (2,740)	-10%	921	30.3
The Bourne Supremecy	Uni	2.4 (1,610)	-41%	1494	167.9
The Cookout	Lions Gate	2.3 (1,790)	-53%	1303	9.2
Garden State	Fox Searchlight	2.0 (2,440)	-33%	800	18.5
Exorcist: The Beginning	WB	1.3 (810)	-64%	1603	40.1
The Manchurian Candidate	Par	1.0 (1,180)	-48%	886	63.9
Alien vs. Predator	Fox	.88 (730)	-65%	1205	78.4
Open Water	Lions Gate	.77 (760)	-69%	1007	29.5
Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2	Sony/Equinoxe	.54 (420)	-70%	1276	7.6
Spider-Man 2	Sony	.52 (1,090)	-55%	476	370.6
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)	-	$102.70	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-19%	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Criminal	WIP	.27 (3,570)	-	77	0.27
Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha	Eros	.11 (2,140)	-	53	0.11
Intern Academy	TVA	86,440 (780)	-	111	0.09
When Will I Be Loved	IFC	25,700 (3,210)	-	8	0.03
Testosterone	Strand	25,200 (6,310)	-	4	0.03
Reconstruction	Palm	12,820 (6,410)	-	2	0.01
September Tapes	Thinkfilm	7,830 (780)	-	10	0.01