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

Weekend Estimates No Hits, No Misses … ? Errors Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow fell to earth with an estimated $15.8 million to lead weekend movie going. It was an unspectacular debut for the cutting edge digital effects extravaganza that vacated the summer season to stake out early autumn. Two other national debuts trailed - the Bernie Maccomedy Mr. 3000 with $9.4 million and the professional tennis romance of Wimbledon with $7.8 million. Ask anyone in the industry and they'll tell you that it's not called the fall for nothing. Those pint sized avid filmgoers are back in class and that means you can get a dandy echo effect in most multiplexes on any weekday afternoon. Current weekend revenues should reach about $78 million which is on par from last weekend but saw a sizeable 24% drop from 2003 when the debut of Underworld led the frame. The much ballyhooed Sky Cap had nonetheless been deemed a difficult sell among industry marketers since footage was unveiled at ShoWest in March. The highly original look and mood of the film provided little indication whether it had a compelling story that would capture a mainstream audience. The film's respectable opening at least holds out the prospect that positive word-of-mouth will sustain business domestically and spark more dynamic response overseas. Neither baseball season nor the Olympics provide much spark for Mr. 3000 or Wimbledon. Again both films opened respectably in relation to their costs. An industry spinner might proffer that each will break even but I've always been told that "this isn't a business about breaking even." There was actually a fourth national release with the independently distributed National Lampoon's Gold Diggers that grossed roughly $330,000 from 1,062 playdates for a not terribly funny $310 theater average. Two other debuting pictures had similar grosses but with considerably less exposure. John Sayles' political pastiche Silver City bowed at 113 polling booths for a less than electable $2,800 per screen and Go Fish presented the Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell 2 at 47 cels for a not too shabby $6,700 average. Among the other limited releases, John Waters' return to basics A Dirty Shame tallied up almost $32,000 from a single engagement while Toronto fest favorite Head in the Clouds totaled roughly $45,000 from 10 engagements. The Czech Republic's Zelary - a foreign-language nominee for 2003 - stepped out with $27,000 from six and the faux documentary Incident at Loch Ness surfaced with $14,000 from two screens. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - September 17-19, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow	Par	14.8 (4,670)	-	3170	14.8
Mr. 3000	DreamWorks	9.1 (3,340)	-	2736	9.1
Wimbledon	Uni	8.2 (4,040)	-	2034	8.2
Resident Evil: Apocalypse	Sony	8.1 (2,450)	-65%	3284	36.4
Cellular	New  Line	7.3 (2,660)	-28%	2749	20.2
Without a Paddle	Par	3.9 (1,490)	-14%	2610	50.6
Hero	Miramax	2.9 (1,500)	-35%	1926	46.1
Napoleon Dynamite	Fox Searchlight	2.5 (2,450)	0%	1024	33.6
Collateral	DmWks	2.5 (1,550)	-9%	1605	96.2
The Bourne Supremecy	Uni	2.0 (1,600)	-15%	1243	170.6
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement	BV	1.8 (920)	-40%	1902	91.7
Vanity Fair	Focus	1.7 (1,690)	-36%	995	13.7
Garden State	Fox Searchlight	1.7 (2,230)	-14%	755	21
Anacondas	Sony	1.6 (950)	-42%	1710	29.8
Paparazzi	Fox	1.3 (920)	-52%	1467	14.3
Wicker Park	MGM	1.1 (730)	-58%	1444	12.3
The Cookout	Lions Gate	.93 (1,090)	-59%	851	10.6
The Manchurian Candidate	Par	.61 (960)	-40%	628	64.9
Exorcist: The Beginning	WB	.56 (790)	-57%	705	41.1
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)	-	$73.40	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-10%	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	-11%	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence	Go Fish	.35 (7,360)	-	47	0.35
National Lampoon's Gold Diggers	P&A	.31 (290)	-	1062	0.31
Silver City	Newmarket	.30 (2,660)	-	113	0.3
Head in the Clouds	Sony Classics	45,100 (4,510)	-	10	0.05
Zelary	Sony Classics	25,300 (4,210)	-	6	0.03
A Dirty Shame	Fine Line	24,300 (24,300)	-	1	0.02
Incident at Loch Ness	Abra	16,680 (8,340)	-	2	0.02
Particles of Truth	Dada	11,800 (11,800)	-	1	0.01