..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

Very Hard Feelings It wasn't much of a grudge match as the Americanization of Japan's popular horror series The Grudge easily commanded weekend movie going with an estimated $40.3 million. The frame's other national opener Surviving Christmas won't wither Thanksgiving with a poor $4.3 million debut. It was also a hectic span in the specialized arena with the quirky comedy Sideways generating a near $52,000 theater average and Venice fest winner Vera Drake posting an excellent gross of close to $300,000. The Grudge could well prove to be 2004's acquisition highlight with weekend box office covering Sony's acquisition and marketing costs. Expectations for the film were upbeat but more in line with a gross in the low to mid-$20 million range. The studio has been experiencing a Halloween season with the current film riding the coat tails of The Forgotten and Resident Evil: Apocalypse. It was definitely a weekend of extremes with the entry of the early seasonal comedy Surviving Christmas unwrapping a stocking full of coal. Its $4.3 million performance was shy of a $1,160 theater average and has many in the industry questioning Ben Affleck's career choices and bankability. Despite the strong showing at the top the weekend's roughly $108 million overall gross repped an 18% decline from 2003 when Scary Movie 3 bowed to $48 million and Radio tuned into third spot with its $13.3 million opening performance. Business did get a nice 11% bump from last weekend. Last weekend's freshmen saw Team America taking a sharp downturn while Shall We Dance? added close to 700 theaters and held its place in the marketplace. I Huckabees expanded to a national profile and appears to have peaked commercially. Nonetheless, Fox Searchlight isn't deterred in its expectations for Sideways that debuted with a strength comparable to Huckabees of $207,000 from four screens. The offbeat upscale road comedy has generated some of the best reviews of the year. Another critical favorite, the Brit period social drama Vera Drake, expanded from two to 46 engagements and posted an impressive $290,000 box office. It's banking on critic's top 10 lists and early award recognition to fuel its expansion. Also going that route is Being Julia which added 22 theaters in Canada and combined with American playdates doubled its debut weekend. Once again the traffic in specialized and niche was crushing with about a dozen new pictures engaged in a brutal Darwinian struggle. Halloween magic brushed off on the nightmarish The Machinist that grossed out about $63,000 from three sweatshops. The rest of the pack had performances ranging from OK to DOA. The politically themed Celsius 41.11 (get it?) managed to sign up 117 theaters but had a decidedly different scale response of about $92,000. The Southern Gothic Undertow dragged up a lethargic $22,300 from six bayous while the musical doc Lightning in a Bottle struck once with $5,500 from two screens and Stella Street was going one way with $2,800 from 10 disengagements. - by Leonard Klady