..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Sharks vs. Panthers
Weekend Estimates
A resilient hold kelped Shark Tale first at the fin-ish line with an estimated $31.1 million. Still, there was considerable grit in the $20.6 million bow of Friday Night Lights, a potent expansion for I Heart Huckabees and a significant bow for France's Les Choristes in Quebec.
Nonetheless the Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving frame was slightly down from both last weekend and the comparable frame in 2003. Weekend ticket sales should ring in just shy of $110 million for a 5% drop from seven days earlier. It was also 2% off last year's gross when Kill Bill, Vol. 1 led with a $22.1 million debut.
Shark Tale bucked the current and managed to score 65% of its opening salvo. And while the football epic Friday Night Lights trailed, its $7,700 theater average was impressive. The long gestating look at sports and community in a small Texas town skewed decidedly male in its audience but strong critical response could prove beneficial in balancing the sexes and sustaining its position in the marketplace.
The weekend was less kind to the other two national bows. The comedy-thriller Taxi ranked fourth with about $11.8 million. Loosely based on a popular French series, the U.S. version was re-tooled as a star vehicle for Queen Latifa and SNL AWOL Jimmy Fallon and was quickly running out of commercial gas following a $600,000 box office from its two-day advance bow.
Hillary Duff's star barely glowed in the sixth place finish of Raise Your Voice with a $4.2 million gross. Films targeted at young women continue to be commercially erratic and the arena continues to suffer as potential star draws move on to less niche oriented fare.
The holidays in much of the domestic arena served to tone down the commercial erosion of holdover titles that have been sinking by 50% in recent weeks. Nonetheless it's been a hard road for Collateral to cross the $100 million mark that's still less than $100,000 in the distance.
Domestic market share leader Sony matched its $1 billion 2004 performance internationally over the weekend, spurred by the $400 million overseas gross for Spider-Man 2. It's the third consecutive year that the company has passed the plateau with other strong earners including 50 First Dates and Gothika.
The weekend also featured a second set of sneaks for Shall We Dance? and an advance look at the controversial Team America: World Police. The latter film from the creators of South Park is the latest production to battle the ratings board for sexual content. In this instance it centered on intercourse between its all puppet cast. Initial reports indicate strong turnout for the advance shows, excellent recommends and an audience dominated by young males.
In regional and niche sectors, France's Oscar submission Les Choristes put a toe in the water with 47 engagements in Quebec that generated about $320,000. The same arena failed to respond the sex comedy Who's Your Daddy? That grossed slightly more than $26,000 from 22 screens.
The period drama Stage Beauty was best among exclusive bows with $36,000 from three venues. There were also good results for the American indie Primer with a $28,000 box office from four playdates and an $11,000 plus return from the single screen bow of the Sundance bowed documentary Tarnation. However, the cross generational Around the Bend was off to a slow start with close to $18,000 from four theaters. Venice prized Vera Drake opens today in Manhattan following its Friday showing at the New York Film Festival.
The session also saw continued and effective expansions for The Motorcycle Diaries and I Heart Huckabees. Diaries added 100 playdates for a weekend tally of $1.2 million and $7,300 screen average. Huckabees boosted its exposure from four to 44 and grossed close to $900,000 for a theater average of $19,600.
Weekend Estimates - October 8-10, 2004
Title % change Theaters Cume Shark Tale -35% 4070 87.1 Friday Night Lights 2667 20.6 Ladder 49 -41% 3261 41 Taxi 3001 12.4 The Forgotten -37% 2961 48.6 Raise Your Voice 2521 4.2 Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow -37% 1743 33.7 Shaun of the Dead -40% 675 9.2 The Motorcycle Diaries 12% 167 3 Resident Evil: Apocalypse -49% 1217 48.9 Napoleon Dynamite -22% 715 39.1 Woman Thou Are Loosed -54% 432 3.9 Cellular -51% 1152 29.6 Mr. 3000 -65% 1386 20.6
I Heart Huckabees 196% 44 1.3 Wimbledon -63% 800 16 Hero -53% 667 52.1 Without a Paddle -56% 905 56.3 Garden State -30% 344 24.5 First Daughter -76% 1023 8.2 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) - Also Debuting/Expanding Les Choristes 47 0.32 Therese -75% 35 0.54 Stage Beauty 3 0.04 Primer 4 0.03 Who's Your Daddy 22 0.03 Around the Bend 4 0.02 Tarnation 1 0.01 Vodka Lemon 2 0.01 Top Limited* Grosses: January 1 - October 7, 2004
Title Nascar: The Imax Experience De-Lovely In America Super Size Me Girl with a Pearl Earring 21 Grams House of Sand and Fog Saved! Bugs! Space Station The Cooler The Triplets of Belleville Maria Full of Grace The Clearing Before Sunset The Young Black Stallion What the #$*! Do We Know Touching the Void The Fog of War Good Bye, Lenin! * none greater than 600 playdates does not include 2003 grosses Domestic Market Share: January 1 - October 7, 2004
Distributor (releases) Sony (20) Warner Bros. (27) Fox (16) DreamWorks (10) Buena Vista (23) Universal (14) Paramount (13) Newmarket (5) New Line (12) Miramax (18) Lions Gate (20) MGM (13) Fox Searchlight (9) Focus (8) Alliance (16) Other * (192) * none greater than .5%
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