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

Weekend Estimates Top Domestic Grosses Market Share Keep on Fockin' There was good news and bad at the box office as Christmas cheer descended on the nation. Meet the Fockers handily led the frame with an estimated $47.7 million weekend but overall business for the span was down by 24% from 2003. Exhibitors had good reason to be nervous about Christmas falling on a Saturday. It's per force that holiday eve attendance is going to be soft and the Christmas day openers this year had an abbreviated run. Still, Fat Albert got off to a fast start and several other titles proved difficult to call over the long haul. Meet the Fockers was clearly the spirit of the movie going season and had already pocketed close to $24 million from Wednesday and Thursday business. Tracking had indicated a bow between $45 million and $50 million and it delivered on that promise. Its closest rival - Lemony Snicket - trailed by $34.5 million and had a sharp 56% drop from its opening salvo. Fat Albert bowed Christmas Day and ranked third overall with $12.2 million. It was a better than anticipated launch that attracted a strong turnout from teens. The other Yule day debut, the horror programmer Darkness, generated a fair $6 million in two days. Several other titles expanded nationally Christmas Day including The Aviator that climbed into fourth position with an estimated $8.8 million. The Life Aquatic went the same route effectively and grossed $4.9 million but exit polling on the picture was disappointing and could be an ill omen for its future. Overall business from the frame should chime in with a $145 million tally for a 34% boost from seven days earlier. However, while Fockers gross was on par with the second weekend of The Return of the King, last year's debuts were considerably stronger. The final 2004 total now appears to be less than 1% better than the prior year. Bowing Wednesday on a limited national basis, Phantom of the Opera grossed $4.1 million on the weekend and $6.4 million to date. There's been considerable nervousness about the picture's appeal and tepid reviews and soft international openings haven't allayed fears. Nonetheless it was a strong, but shy of overwhelming, opener with a future that could well hinge on word-of-mouth and Oscar nominations. In addition to Lemony Snicket, other holdover titles that experienced sharp downturns included Ocean's Twelve and Spanglish. The Polar Express continued to beat the odds with a slim 10% drop but has a more daunting challenge next weekend as holiday themed pictures have a long history of evaporating quickly once the Christmas lights are taken down. Several awards contenders opened on a limited basis to good results. The hard-hitting Hotel Rwanda had an impressive $110,000 gross from seven venues and the social drama The Woodsman cut through the pack with $58,000 from six locations. In Quebec, the lighthearted romp C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre proved disappointing with a $57,000 box office at 37 screens. Million Dollar Baby added a screen in San Francisco and continued to attract near capacity crowds for its nine engagements. Its $210,000 weekend boosted its gross to $550,000. It expands on January 7. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - December 24-26, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Meet the Fockers	Uni	47.7 (13,574)	-	3518	71.6
Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Incidents	Par	13.2 (3,650)	-56%	3623	60
Fat Albert	Fox	12.2 (4,570)	-	2674	12.2
The Aviator	Miramax/WB	8.8 (4,910)	888%	1795	10.2
Ocean's Twelve	WB	8.5 (2,570)	-53%	3290	86.7
The Polar Express	WB	6.7 (2,570)	-10%	2618	140.4
Darkness	Miramax	6.0 (3,550)	-	1700	6
The Life Aquatic	BV	4.9 (4,450)	-	1105	5.3
Spanglish	Sony	4.8 (1,960)	-46%	2438	18.3
Phantom of the Opera	WB	4.1 (6,640)	-	622	6.4
National Treasure	BV	4.0 (1,800)	-34%	2201	141.1
Blade: Trinity	New Line	3.2 (1,390)	-53%	2318	42.5
Flight of the Phoenix	Fox	2.9 (1,120)	-42%	2604	10.7
Christmas with the Kranks	Sony	2.9 (1,350)	-46%	2135	69.2
The Incredibles	BV	2.6 (1,510)	-16%	1732	242.6
Closer	Sony	1.6 (1,520)	-51%	1069	22.5
Finding Neverland	Miramax	1.5 (1,640)	-22%	933	19.9
Sideways	Fox Searchlight	1.2 (3,460)	-18%	356	18.5
House of Flying Daggers	Sony Classics	.73 (4,700)	-11%	155	2.8
Spongebob Squarepants	Par	.67 (510)	-67%	1316	78.7
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)-		$138.10	-	-	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-24%	-	-	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	34%	-	-	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Kinsey	Fox Searchlight	.32 (1,660)	-36%	195	5.7
Million Dollar Baby	WB	.21 (23,440)	17%	9	0.55
Hotel Rwanda	MGM	.11 (15,360)	-	7	0.15
The Woodsman	Newmarket	58,400 (9,740)	-	6	0.06
C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre	Equinoxe	57,300 (1,550)	-	37	0.06
Beyond the Sea	Lions Gate	42,500 (4,720)	-5%	9	0.11

Top Worldwide Grossers: January 1 - December 19, 2004

Title	Distributor	Gross
Shrek 2	DmWks	441,226,247
Spider-Man 2	Sony	373,585,825
The Passion of the Christ	Newmarket	370,274,604
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	WB	249,541,069
The Incredibles	BV	236,978,426
The Day After Tomorrow	Fox	186,740,799
The Bourne Supremacy	Uni	176,236,842
Shark Tale	DmWks	159,568,781
I, Robot	Fox	144,786,439
Troy	WB	133,378,256
National Treasure	BV	132,748,249
The Polar Express	WB	123,430,336
Lord of the Rings: Return of King *	NLC	122,306,127
50 First Dates	Sony	120,908,074
Van Helsing	Uni	120,177,084
Fahrenheit 9/11	Lions Gate/Alliance	119,194,771
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story	Fox	114,326,736
The Village	BV	114,197,520
The Grudge	Sony	110,175,871
Collateral	DmWks	101,005,703
* does not include 2003 box office

Domestic Market Share: January 1 - December 19, 2004

Distributor (releases)	Gross (millions)	Percentage
Sony (24)	1303.7	14.60%
Warner Bros. (33)	1150.8	12.90%
Buena Vista (27)	1118.4	12.50%
DreamWorks (11)	936.2	10.50%
Fox (17)	894.1	10.00%
Universal (17)	758.9	8.50%
Paramount (17)	568.6	6.40%
New Line (18)	425.1	4.80%
Newmarket (6)	406.6	4.60%
Miramax (21)	345.3	3.90%
Lions Gate (27)	279.4	3.10%
MGM (14)	198.4	2.20%
Fox Searchlight (11)	167	1.90%
Focus (8)	124.6	1.40%
Alliance (21)	54.5	0.60%
Other * (233)	187.6	2.10%
* none greater than .5%	8919.2	100%