..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Closer … and No Cigar
Weekend Estimates
In movie parlance, December - but especially the first week of the month - is the cruelest of the year. Thoughts of sugar plums dance in the mind and the multiplex slips lower on one's holiday check list.
This was once again aptly reflected as movie going plunged some 47% on the heels of a bountiful Thanksgiving to record the lowest returns of the past five years. While the span was absent of a single debuting wide release, both the limited national bow of Closer and the exclusive run of House of Flying Daggers had excellent bows with respective theatre averages of $16,400 and $25,000.
The frame was once again dominated by family fare with National Treasure holding onto first place with an estimated $16.9 million and sailing past a $100 million milestone on Saturday. It was followed by Christmas with the Kranks, The Polar Express and The Incredibles.
Closer, the searing look at contemporary relationships, received mixed but generally thoughtful reviews and its potent ensemble generated a sterling $7.8 million. Sony had considered both opening the picture wide or going out on a very exclusive basis. It finally settled on 476 playdates, reckoning that the absence of new titles and paucity of adult fare would work in the picture's favor. The result certainly bore out that rationale even if exit response by CinemaScore rendered an overly harsh D+ rating.
Overall business limped toward the imminent Yule onslaught with about an $88 million tally. It was a not unexpected steep drop from the prior holiday period and additionally lagged behind 2003 by about 10%. Last year, The Last Samurai entered the marketplace with $24.3 million and Honey's opening charted second with $12.9 million.
The majors have been loath to force film goers to decide between a trip to the cinema and working on Santa's gift basket and one can't argue the point too strenuously. Invariably when high profile films have bowed in early December, the result has been disappointing and the instances of picture's rallying after soft starts is a true rarity in the present marketplace. Still, the record for movies targeted to a niche, younger crowd have proven to have traction and might have welcomed the arrival of next week's Blade Trinity at this juncture.
However, both mainstream and niche fare hunkered down for the commercial body blow. Films playing the award card including Finding Neverland, Sideways and Kinsey decided to put their expansions on hiatus and weather the attendance downturn. And while there was obvious erosion for the very limited runs of Bad Education and A Very Long Engagement, both movies continued to maintain very strong response and continued media interest.
The frame also included a 226 theater break for the drama I Am David that faltered with a lackluster response of about $150,000. Equally uninspired were a number of exclusive premieres including single screen results of $3,800 on the chess documentary Game Over and a scary $1,100 return for the Asian horror import A Tale of Two Sisters.
There was considerably better response for the critically acclaimed Chinese historical actioner House of Flying Daggers that arrived on 15 screens and grossed about $360,000. However, in light of the spectacular numbers generated by Hero (also directed by Dagger's director Zhang Yimou) that opened nationally during another traditionally slow period, one wonders whether the current film might have benefited from a more aggressive entry into the marketplace.
Weekend Estimates - December 3-5, 2004
Title National Treasure -48% 3243 110 Christmas with the Kranks -47% 3416 45.2 The Polar Express -45% 3650 96.1 The Incredibles -61% 3178 226.1 Closer - 476 7.8 Spongebob Squarepants -59% 3307 67.9 Alexander -66% 2445 29.6 Finding Neverland -39% 526 12.7 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason -56% 2433 36.3 Ray -53% 1547 67.8 After the Sunset -41% 1889 26.9 Sideways -42% 499 12.4 The Grudge -45% 1286 109.2 Saw -42% 1043 54.4 Shall We Dance -48% 1054 55.4 Kinsey -47% 188 3.6 Seed of Chucky -59% 856 16.5 The Motorcycle Diaries -21% 272 14.4 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) - Also Debuting/Expanding House of Flying Daggers - 15 0.37 I Am David - 226 0.15 Bad Education -42% 3 0.52 A Very Long Engagement -32% 4 0.21 Game Over - 1 0.01 A Tale of Two Sisters - 1 0.01 Top Limited Grossers: January 1 - December 2, 2004
Title Nascar: The Imax Experience 19,401,917 The Motorcycle Diaries 13,870,113 De-Lovely 13,455,445 In America 11,858,410 Super Size Me 11,536,423 Girl with a Pearl Earring 11,159,001 21 Grams 10,843,407 Sideways 10,676,105 House of Sand and Fog 10,094,363 Space Station 9,774,804 Bugs! 9,484,048 What the #$*! Do We Know 9,162,313 Saved! 8,936,039 Finding Neverland 8,859,351 The Cooler 6,900,809 Woman Thou Art Loosed 6,879,730 Maria Full of Grace 6,550,321 The Triplets of Belleville 6,536,791 Before Sunset 5,820,649 The Clearing 5,763,875 * none greater than 600 playdates - does not include 2003 grosses Domestic Market Share: January 1 - December 2, 2004
Distributor (releases) Sony (21) 14.60% Buena Vista (25) 12.40% Warner Bros. (31) 12.10% DreamWorks (11) 10.90% Fox (16) 10.40% Universal (17) 8.80% Paramount (16) 6.10% Newmarket (6) 4.80% New Line (16) 4.50% Miramax (20) 3.90% Lions Gate (25) 3.20% MGM (14) 2.30% Fox Searchlight (11) 1.90% Focus (8) 1.40% Alliance (20) 0.60% Other * (225) 2.10% * none greater than .5% 100%
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