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

Weekend Estimates Top Domestic Grosses Domestic Market Share Call Waiting You might say it was a ring and a miss at the weekend box office as the horror sequel The Ring Two led the field with an estimated $36.4 million while the other national debut, Ice Princess, was chillin' in fifth position with $6.7 million. The frame also had a spectacular exclusive run for Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda but otherwise overall business was on par for this time of year. The Ring Two stormed into theaters Friday with avid fans dialing up close to $15 million in ticket sales. However word of mouth was cool and Saturday's box office experienced a 12% decline from opening day and the picture fell short of tracking expectations that had indicated a debut of more than $40 million. Still there wasn't a lot to bemoan in the film's $10,000 plus theater average. Ring Two is likely to experience sharp drops and will not hit the $100 million box office level of the original but should generate a revenue level worthy of further franchise considerations. The film's performance may or may not have validated last week's entreaty by National Association of Theater Owner's president John Fithian who pointed to the opening power of Robots and The Pacifier as fuel for the industry to make more PG-13 rated movies and get off the R bandwagon that embraces the likes of Ring. Certainly the poor performance of Ice Princess that debuted with $6.7 million underscored the fact that not all PG-13s are created equally. Robots added $21.3 million to its tally to rank second and fell off 41% in its second weekend. The animated production and other family friendly fare should stand up well in the coming weeks as the Easter holiday break provides increased leisure time for frequent movie goers. Weekend sales should reach about $118 million for a marginal boost of 3% from the prior weekend and a slim 1% decline from 2004. Miss Congeniality 2 bows next Thursday and Guess Who on Friday and the lighter holiday fare is expected to perform well but below record levels. Woody Allen's latest Melinda and Melinda has already bowed in several key European territories where it's grossed about $11 million and earned the filmmaker his best reviews and box office in years. It was generating near capacity sales in its Manhattan exclusive this weekend that should tally to more than $73,000 and a personal record for Allen. Niche expansions for the frame included several buoyant results including a $12,000 per theater average for the quirky romantic comedy The Upside of Anger that added 144 playdates to its initial 9-theater bow. Another offbeat sophomore entry, Millions, added 18 screens and maintained a $9,400 average. Also continuing strong was German Oscar submission Downfall with a $7,330 average from 83 venues and a cume of $1.4 million. Its Academy consideration brethren were pushing toward their commercial finish line with The Aviator passing $100 million and Million Dollar Baby crossing $90 million from weekend additions. Limited and exclusive freshmen included the Japanese anima entry Steamboy that garnered close to $160,000 from 39 theaters. It was a good result for the acclaimed production that was a b.o. disappointment on home turf with less than a $10 million gross and fair returns from other international markets. Single screen entries included a $7,500 tally for the Russian import Schizo and $5,500 for the American indie Way Off Broadway. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - March 18-20, 2005

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
The Ring Two	DreamWorks	36.4 (10,940)	-	3332	36.4
Robots	Fox	21.3 (5,650)	-41%	3776	66.4
The Pacifer	BV	12.6 (3,980)	-30%	3181	72.4
Hitch	Sony	6.8 (2,500)	-23%	2703	159.6
Ice Princess	BV	6.7 (2,670)	-	2501	6.7
Be Cool	MGM	5.8 (2,190)	-43%	2660	47.2
Hostage	Miramax	5.7 (2,620)	-44%	2183	19.2
Million Dollar Baby	WB	4.2 (1,890)	-19%	2210	90.1
Diary of a Mad Black Woman	Lions Gate	2.4 (1,860)	-51%	1279	47.6
Constantine	WB	2.3 (1,410)	-39%	1670	70.4
The Upside of Anger	New Line	1.8 (12,030)	768%	153	2.12
Man of the House	Sony	1.0 (980)	-41%	1056	18.2
Sideways	Fox Searchlight	1.0 (1,700)	-25%	585	69.6
The Aviator	Miramax/WB	.90 (1,250)	-34%	718	100.4
Because of Winn-Dixie	Fox	.76 (630)	-47%	1198	30.4
Bride and Prejudice	Miramax	.67 (2,310)	-19%	288	4.84
Downfall	Newmarket	.64 (7,330)	91%	87	1.4
Cursed	Miramax	.52 (640)	-67%	812	17.69
Hotel Rwanda	MGM	.51 (1,400)	-25%	362	22.54
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$112.00	-	-	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-1%	-	-	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	3%	-	-	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Born into Brothels	Thinkfilm	.23 (2,450)	-39%	93	1.9
Millions	Fox Searchlight	.22 (9,430)	210%	23	0.31
Steamboy	Sony	.16 (4,030)	-	39	0.16
Melinda and Melinda	Fox Searchlight	73,300 (73,300)	-	1	0.07
Schizo	Picture This	7,200 (7,200)	-	1	0.01
Way Off Broadway	Small Planet	5,500 (5,500)	-	1	0.01
Milk and Honey	Wellspring	4,700 (4,700)	-	1	0.01

DomesticGrosses: Jan 1 - March 17, 2005

Hitch	Sony	152,845,138
Meet the Fockers *	Uni	143,855,120
Million Dollar Baby *	WB	86,037,879
Are We There Yet?	Sony	79,835,019
The Aviator *	Mrmx/WB	75,424,502
Constantine	WB	68,056,792
Coach Carter	Par	66,364,794
The Pacifier	BV	59,740,454
White Noise	Uni/TVA	56,247,853
Hide and Seek	Fox	50,557,998
Racing Stripes	WB	47,908,253
Sideways *	Fox Searchlight	47,703,759
Boogeyman	Sony	46,277,460
In Good Company	Uni	45,438,314
Diary of a Mad Black Woman	Lions Gate	45,264,893
Robots	Fox	45,041,802
Be Cool	MGM	41,403,036
The Phantom of the Opera *	WB	36,892,679
Lemony Snicket's … Unfortunate Events	Par	32,885,212
The Wedding Date	Uni/Equinoxe	31,152,875
* does not include 2004 box office

 

Domestic Market Share: To March 17, 2005

Distributor (releases)	Gross	Percentage
Sony (9)	324.5	18.80%
Warner Bros. (10)	294.4	17.10%
Universal (8)	275.9	16.00%
Fox (7)	178.2	10.40%
Miramax (8)	141.5	8.20%
Buena Vista (9)	126.7	7.40%
Paramount (5)	104.3	6.00%
MGM (4)	63.2	3.70%
Lions Gate (5)	55.9	3.20%
Fox Searchlight (5)	51.6	3.00%
New Line (7)	27.2	1.60%
Focus (3)	21.6	1.20%
Sony Classics (7)	17.3	1.10%
Other * (69)	39	2.30%
* none greater than 0.6%	1721.3	100.00%