..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Born to be Mad ...
Weekend Estimates
Though tracking was upbeat, no one expected Diary of a Mad Black Woman to top weekend movie going with an estimated $21.2 million gross. In a very close competition with the third weekend of Hitch, the independently produced social comedy starring and conceived by Tyler Perry appeared to have the edge and certainly ranks immediately as one of the season's surprise successes.
The span also saw national debuts for the chiller Cursed and the action-comedy Man of the House. Neither film displayed more than passable interest in a frame that should run up a tally of slightly more than $120 million.
Black Woman had been generating industry buzz going into the weekend with reports of brisk group sales. Perry's niche following will obviously expand based on the impressive $14,300 theater average. It should also expand the picture's to date dominant Afrocentric and female appeal.
Constantine took a hefty 62% plunge to rank third overall with $11.4 million, followed by the two freshmen outings. Neither Cursed nor Man of the House were promoted with much vigor and their respective grosses of $9.4 million and $9 million and mid-$3,000 theater averages indicate short and not terribly fruitful theatrical lives.
Overall business abated by about 9% from the prior weekend and 22% from 2004. A year ago The Passion of the Christ arrived with a jaw dropping $83.8 million and the prospect of lightning striking twice wasn't on anyone's weather forecast. And while there's an anticipated further erosion from Sunday's Oscar broadcast, its significance should be less severe based on current films in the marketplace and the films up for honors.
The traditional last minute surge and stamina for Oscar contenders was in evidence with such films as Million Dollar Baby, Sideways, The Aviator, Being Julia, Finding Neverland and Hotel Rwanda each demonstrating virtually unchanged interest from the past several weekends. There's every indication that winners in major categories will receive a noticeable boost and the award also-rans will quickly evaporate from the screen scene.
The first major expansion for Bride and Prejudice continued to show encouraging response with the film inspired by Bollywood musicals grossing roughly $850,000 from 156 venues. Meanwhile, Bewaafa - the latest from India - debuted to no more than OK results of $130,000 from 46 screens on the specialized circuit.
Another Oscar contender - Germany's Downfall - added two screens in Los Angeles and its trio of playdates generated a solid $41,000.
Other debuting niche fare had passable to poor results. The Czech award winner Up & Down generated about $31,000 from six screens while the Brazilian import The Other Side of the Street grossed $4,500 from a single booking. A couple of French imports failed to translate in Quebec including 5 x 2 with a dull $18,000 from 9 playdates and Malabar Princess even duller with $11,600 in six outings. The Canadian family comedy Daniel and the Superdogs growled to a surly $58,000 from approximately 64 dog houses.
Weekend Estimates - February 25-27, 2005
Title Diary of a Mad Black Woman - 1483 21.2 Hitch -33% 3571 122 Constantine -62% 3006 50.3 Cursed - 2805 9.4 Man of the House - 2422 9 Million Dollar Baby 1% 2125 64.4 Because of Winn-Dixie -33% 3188 22.2 Are We There Yet? -34% 2242 76.5 The Aviator -7% 1579 93.7 Son of the Mask -50% 2966 14 Sideways -9% 1229 63.1 Boogeyman -60% 2027 44.7 The Wedding Date -44% 1290 28.9 Pooh's Heffelump Movie -53% 1944 15.5 Finding Neverland -2% 776 48.1 Hotel Rwanda -7% 580 19.3 Meet the Fockers -45% 816 275 Hide and Seek -64% 1254 49.8 Bride and Prejudice 164% 156 1.8 Being Julia 3% 269 6.9 Phantom of the Opera -39% 603 48.7 Racing Stripes -52% 835 47.3 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - - - % Change (Last Year) - - - % Change (Last Week) - - - Also Debuting/Expanding Aliens of the Deep -3% 27 2.8 Bewaafa - 46 0.13 Daniel and the Superdogs - 64 0.06 Downfall 127% 3 0.08 Up & Down - 6 0.03 5 x 2 - 9 0.02 Malabar Princess - 6 0.01 Domestic Grosses: To February 24, 2005
Meet the Fockers 141,030,140 Hitch 101,008,218 Are We There Yet? 72,366,449 The Aviator 65,784,011 Coach Carter 65,282,141 Million Dollar Baby 57,622,972 White Noise 55,894,360 Hide and Seek 48,854,589 Racing Stripes 46,649,062 In Good Company 44,683,484 Boogeyman 42,608,077 Constantine 38,931,540 Sideways 38,759,459 The Phantom of the Opera 34,788,674 Lemony Snicket's … Unfortunate Events 32,105,553 The Wedding Date 26,786,570 Ocean's Twelve 24,671,408 Elektra 24,192,298 Finding Neverland 23,361,043 Fat Albert 21,572,214 * does not include 2004 box office Domestic Market Share: To February 24, 2005
Distributor (releases) Universal (8) 21.20% Sony (8) 19.30% Warner Bros. (9) 17.90% Fox (6) 9.20% Paramount (5) 8.10% Miramax (5) 7.40% Buena Vista (8) 4.70% Fox Searchlight (4) 3.40% Focus (3) 1.70% New Line (6) 1.50% MGM (3) 1.40% Sony Classics (6) 1.10% Lions Gate (4) 0.80% Other * (53) 2.30% * none greater than 0.5% 100.00%
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