..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

May 1, 2005 XXX Crutiating!!! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy stepped out of its cult status to a decidedly mainstream debut estimated at $22.2 million. It was more than sufficient to fend off all competition including a disappointing third place bow for XXX: State of the Union of $13.4 million. Additionally, Hitchhiker was several orbits ahead of XXX 2 in the United Kingdom and Australia where the two films went head to head. And the action sequel found the commercial waters lukewarm in 62 other territories in its global box office blitz. Domestically the two films were both expected to gross more than $20 million and turn around flagging box office and attendance that's engulfed movie going for two months. Instead, the weekend tally headed toward $95 million to remain even with last weekend's grosses and trail the comparable 2004 frame by 9 percent. A year ago Mean Girls bit into a $24.4 million opening that led the field. Beginning as a radio play and morphing into a book and BBC television series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has fascinated and daunted filmmakers for two decades. But perseverance appears to have paid off commercially while pretty much splitting critics into opposing camps. In the U.S. its hardcore fans contributed to an $8.1 million opening day but a soft 9% bump on Saturday. Its audience is dominated by twenty and thirtysomething males and that could seriously limit business in the coming weeks. While Hitchhiker played to overall expectations, XXX: State of the Union was a pale reflection of its former self. Heading into the weekend Sony and Revolution had full confidence the testosterone entertainment would rank first in the marketplace and were dumbfounded when it failed to equal the rival newcomer and the second weekend of The Interpreter. While response was less than tracking had indicated in all quadrants, particularly weak was its appeal to African American males. Overseas performance was also disappointing and the decision to go global ahead of The War of the Worlds and a new Star Wars though wise was less than buoyant with early estimates pegged at $15 million. It's top grossing market was the U.K. where it ranked second with $1.8 million to Hitchhiker's considerably more potent $5.8 million. It was also outclassed in Australia where HGG grossed $2.5 million to its $1 million result. With the exception of Spain $1 million box office lead XXX 2 was the bridesmaid in such territories as France ($1.4 million), South Korea ($1.3 million) and Germany ($1.2 million). Holdover titles in general took not unexpected 30% to 40% hits though the gamble on Kung Fu Hustle came up short as it slid 55% from last weekend's national launch. Another exception is Robots that remains more resilient than other continuing titles as it mines the family audience that have pushed its cume past $123 million. Following its dynamic three screen opening last weekend, the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room added 44 playdates and scored excellent returns of $360,000. But as with the mainstream, business in the niches has tilted toward softish results by and large. The best of the weekend newcomers was the Brit showcase of Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench in Ladies in Lavender. The film had an impressive tally of about $140,000 from 22 venues but it was one of the few titles that had encouraging returns. Death of a Dynasty, an American indie set in the world of hip hop generated a not too tuneful $29,400 from 16 pop stands while the Korean import 3-Iron (from the director of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter …) had a soft landing just shy of a $3,000 average from seven theaters. The Argentine The Holy Girl displayed better initial strength of $27,200 from two exclusive engagements. - by Leonard Klady