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

Weekend Estimates Top Domestic Grosses Market Share Ray (of Sunshine) … See, Saw, Sewn and Other Scary Stuff Despite some formidable competition and a significant second weekend drop in business, The Grudge remained American's top viewing choice with an estimated $22.4 million. However, right behind the scare fare were the bows of biopic Ray and the gorefest Saw with excellent respective openers of $20.1 million and $17.6 million. The frame also marked continued excellent response to Sideways in limited release and both Vera Drake and Being Julia held up as they entered new markets. Though there was strength among the top choices, there wasn't much length behind them and that adds up to weekend tally that appears headed toward about $103 million. That reps a 5% decline from a week earlier and a slight 1% drop from 2003. However, the incline gets steeper when one notes that last year had no major openers and the gross figure translates into fewer actual admissions. The Grudge continued to fan the flames of horror movie appeal appropriate to any Halloween weekend. Still, it provided an unexpected boost for Saw that entered theaters with a campaign that effectively suggested a graphic thrill ride with beaucoup body parts splayed across the screen. The film opened in England three weeks ago where its been a box office dynamo with $9 million in the bank already. The momentum for the Ray Charles movie was inarguable, building up considerable buzz from Jamie Foxx's transcendent performance. While some pundits felt the movie could lead the weekend, that prospect was muted by the fact that Ray debuted in 40% fewer theaters than The Grudge. Its $10,000 per engagement average spoke volumes about its commercial potency and it's significant that the top three marketplace titles are all movies developed outside the system and acquired by majors. The weekend also featured a national launch with limited exposure for the offbeat dramatic thriller Birth. Its middling $1.7 million, $3,180 average doesn't bode well for the Nicole Kidman vehicle's future. Admittedly a difficult film to market because of unusual and unsettling material, it needs to maintain at least 75% of opening returns next week if it hopes for mainstream crossover. The niche and limited release arena was dominated by holdovers rather than debuting titles. Sideways, the quirky road movie with the nutty vintage, expanded from four to 13 venues and maintained a full bodied $30,000 average. While by no means as hearty, both Vera Drake and Being Julia added theaters without seriously carving into respective box office potency. Vera and Julia are banking on awards and nominations for their title performers to provide second waves in December and January. Among debuting alternative titles the best of this weekend's unremarkable class was the dark and obsessed saga Enduring Love. It bowed in five situations to slightly more than $35,000. Other new fare generated considerably more mundane results with the documentary Voices of Iraq grossing roughly $29,000 from 11 exposures; the Mexican social drama Perfume de Violetas posting $8,500 from six screens; and It's All About Love eking out $2,400 from two venues. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - October 29-31, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
The Grudge	Sony	22.4 (6,700)	-43%	3348	71.3
Ray	Uni	20.1 (10,260)	-	2006	20.1
Saw	Lions Gate	17.6 (7,610)	-	2315	17.6
Shark Tale	DreamWorks	8.2 (2,430)	-43%	3381	147.6
Shall We Dance	Miramax	6.3 (2,560)	-26%	2476	33.9
Friday Night Lights	Uni	4.2 (1,410)	-39%	3004	53.1
Ladder 49	BV	3.3 (1,390)	-38%	2382	66.2
Team America: World Police	Par	3.2 (1,360)	-50%	2335	27.4
Surviving Christmas	DreamWorks	2.7 (970)	-40%	2755	8.2
Taxi	Fox	2.1 (1,110)	-50%	1884	32.6
Birth	New Line	1.7 (3,180)		550	1.7
The Forgotten	Sony	1.7 (990)	-48%	1735	64.6
I Heart Huckabees	Fox Searchlight	1.6 (1,770)	-45%	901	8.3
The Motorcycle Diaries	Focus	1.0 (3,880)	-28%	264	9.3
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$96.10
% Change (Last Year)		-1%
% Change (Last Week)		-5%
Also Debuting/Expanding
Sideways	Fox Searchlight	.39 (30,230)	89%	13	0.69
Vera Drake	New Line	.28 (3,240)	-2%	87	0.77
Being Julia	Sony Class/Think	.25 (4,080)	49%	62	0.74
Les Choristes	Alliance	.14 (3,070)	-22%	45	1.2
Stage Beauty	Lions Gate	.10 (1,440)	-37%	70	0.5
The Machinist	Par Classics	54,200 (6,770)	-17%	8	0.14
Enduring Love	Par Classics	35,300 (7,060)	-	5	0.04
Comme une image	Seville	29,300 (7,330)	-	4	0.03
Voices of Iraq	Magnolia	28,900 (2,630)	-	11	0.03
Perfume de Violetas	Casanova	8,500 (1,420)	-	6	0.01
It's All About Love	Strand	2,400 (1,200)	-	2	0.01

Top Domestic Grosses: January 1 - October 28, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross
Shrek 2	DreamWorks	440,856,541
Spider-Man 2	Sony	372,934,675
The Passion of the Christ	Newmarket	370,274,604
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	WB	249,327,065
The Day After Tomorrow	Fox	186,737,076
The Bourne Supremacy	Uni	174,873,145
I, Robot	Fox	144,283,044
Shark Tale	DreamWorks	139,356,983
Troy	WB	133,378,256
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King *	New Line	122,306,127
50 First Dates	Sony	120,908,074
Van Helsing	Uni	120,177,084
Fahrenheit 9/11	Lions Gate/Alliance	119,200,329
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story	Fox	114,319,767
The Village	BV	113,963,063
Collateral	DreamWorks	100,696,609
Princes Diaries 2: Royal Engagement	BV	94,322,296
Starsky & Hutch	WB	88,237,754
Along Came Polly	Uni	88,097,164
Mean Girls	Par	86,050,784
* does not include 2003 box office

Domestic Market Share: January 1 - October 29, 2004

Distributor (releases)	Gross (millions)	Percentage
Sony (20)	1147	15.10%
Warner Bros. (28)	923.7	12.20%
DreamWorks (10)	909.2	12.00%
Fox (16)	882.6	11.60%
Buena Vista (23)	735.3	9.70%
Universal (15)	635.5	8.40%
Paramount (14)	438.3	5.80%
Newmarket (5)	406.5	5.30%
New Line (14)	353.2	4.60%
Miramax (19)	297.9	3.90%
Lions Gate (23)	223.2	2.90%
MGM (13)	198.1	2.60%
Fox Searchlight (9)	136.3	1.80%
Focus (8)	99.8	1.30%
Alliance (17)	52.3	0.70%
Other * (208)	163.3	2.10%
* none greater than .5%	7602.2	100%