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

Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Mechanical Behavior There was no need for Fox to retrofit its animation unit as Robots left the competition in the rust. The family friendly movie grossed an estimated $35.5 million while second place went to The Pacifier at $17.7 million. The frame also saw an OK opening for the Bruce Willis thriller Hostage and a number of upbeat limited releases including The Upside of Anger and Millions. But there was no second coming for The Passion of the Christ that grossed roughly $200 per location in an almost 1,000 screen break. A full court marketing press animated Robots debut to impressive realms. Tracking had suggested the film might gross more than $40 million but a comparatively strong hold for The Pacifier obviously ate into expectations by 10% to 15% to render a rare non-holiday instance where the top performers were directed toward kids and sturdy parents. Both films will likely remain strong in the coming weeks leading up to Easter. The other debuting national release Hostage performed predictably. It was just shy of $10 million in fourth position behind the second weekend of Be Cool. Overall business should generate more than $110 million when the dust settles. That reps a 9% fall back from last weekend and also trails last year by 4%. The luster was quickly fading from Oscar's statuette. Million Dollar Baby still ranked among the top 10 but following an impressive post-broadcast boost, fell 40% this weekend. Other major contenders experienced even sharper drops, leaving the box office glory to non-fiction and foreign-language nominees. Documentary winner Born into Brothels maintained a slow role out and had a marginal decline while Germany's submission Downfall had its first major expansion and ballooned by more than 200%. The skepticism about a reissue of The Passion of the Christ, particularly one that emphasized a tamer cut seven minutes shorter than the original proved justified as the film under whelmed even the Doubting Thomases with a gross of less than $200,000 from 954 playdates. The video era pretty much curtailed theatrical second winds and the advent of DVD on the heals of theatrical exploitation may have put the final nail in that particular coffin. Activity among limited and exclusive opening titles was more brisk than usual with the quirky romantic comedy The Upside of Anger benefiting from strong reviews. The ensemble piece grossed about $213,000 from 9 engagements while Fox Searchlight's whimsical British import Millions was off to a very good start of more than $66,000 from 5 playdates. There were also encouraging returns for several independents including a $51,000 tally for Off the Map on 11 screens and almost $17,000 for Mail Order Wife from two theaters. However, the nine-screen launch of the South African set In My Country failed to connect with critics or audiences, grossing a less than tepid $22,000 entry. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - March 11-13, 2005

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Robots	Fox	35.5 (9,390)	-	3776	35.5
The Pacifer	BV	17.7 (5,580)	-42%	3166	54
Be Cool	MGM	10.7 (3,350)	-54%	3216	39.2
Hostage	Miramax	9.6 (4,540)	-	2123	9.6
Hitch	Sony	8.8 (2,950)	-28%	2975	149.8
Million Dollar Baby	WB	4.9 (2,070)	-40%	2375	83.8
Diary of a Mad Black Woman	Lions Gate	4.7 (2,900)	-58%	1605	43.8
Constantine	WB	3.8 (1,750)	-38%	2170	66.5
Man of the House	Sony	1.8 (940)	-49%	1903	16.5
Cursed	Miramax	1.5 (890)	-61%	1687	17.7
The Jacket	WIP	1.3 (950)	-53%	1331	4.9
Because of Winn-Dixie	Fox	1.3 (770)	-59%	1702	28.9
The Aviator	Miramax/WB	1.3 (1,270)	-45%	1002	99
Sideways	Fox Searchlight	1.2 (1,490)	-42%	807	68
Bride and Prejudice	Miramax	.81 (2,870)	12%	282	3.9
Hotel Rwanda	MGM	.61 (1,260)	-39%	485	21.7
Finding Neverland	Miramax	.57 (1,140)	-45%	500	50.5
Are We There Yet?	Sony	0.51 (600)	-68%	843	79.5
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$106.70	-	-	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-4%	-	-	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	-9%	-	-	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Downfall	Newmarket	.27 (5,830)	232%	46	0.52
Born into Brothels	Thinkfilm	.23 (2,670)	-12%	87	1.4
The Upside of Anger	New Line	.21 (23,670)	-	9	0.21
The Passion of the Christ (reissue)	Newmarket	.19 (200)	-	954	0.19
Gunner Palace	Palm	.11 (2,870)	71%	38	0.2
Millions	Fox Searchlight	66,340 (13,270)	-	5	0.07
Off the Map	Holedigger	51,200 (4,650)	-	11	0.05
In My Country	Sony Classics	22,100 (2,460)	-	9	0.02
Mail Order Wife	Tartan	16,800 (8,400)	-	2	0.02
Dot the I	Innovation	10,400 (10,400)	-	1	0.01

Domestic Market Share: To March 10, 2005

Distributor (releases)	Gross	Percentage
Sony (9)	309	19.70%
Warner Bros. (10)	279	17.80%
Universal (8)	274.5	17.50%
Fox (6)	130.9	8.30%
Miramax (7)	122.1	7.80%
Paramount (5)	103.9	6.60%
Buena Vista (9)	101.5	6.50%
Fox Searchlight (4)	49.7	3.20%
Lions Gate (5)	49.7	3.20%
MGM (4)	48.9	3.10%
New Line (6)	26.3	1.70%
Focus (3)	21.6	1.30%
Sony Classics (7)	16.7	1.10%
Other * (67)	35.5	2.30%
* none greater than 0.6%	1569.3	100.00%