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

May 1, 2005 Weekend Estimates Top Limited Grosses Market Share 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

Weekend Estimates - April 29-May 1, 2005

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	BV	22.2 (7,070)	-	3133	22.2
The Interpreter	Uni	14.3 (5,190)	-37%	2764	43.7
XXX: State of the Union	Sony	13.4 (3,860)	-	3480	13.4
The Amityville Horror	MGM	8.0 (2,630)	-41%	3058	55
Sahara	Par	5.8 (1,870)	-36%	3112	57
A Lot Like Love	BV	5.3 (2,120)	-30%	2502	14.8
Fever Pitch	Fox	3.6 (1,660)	-34%	2192	36.4
Kung Fu Hustle	Sony Classics	3.0 (1,240)	-55%	2440	12.3
Robots	Fox	2.5 (1,380)	-28%	1782	123.5
Guess Who	Sony	2.3 (1,220)	-35%	1863	65.6
Sin City	Miramax	2.1 (1,290)	-43%	1665	70.7
The Pacifer	BV	1.3 (1,030)	-40%	1224	108.3
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous	WB	1.0 (880)	-46%	1108	45.9
Beauty Shop	MGM	.89 (980)	-55%	905	35.4
King's Ransom	New Line	.78 (520)	-63%	1508	3.45
The Upside of Anger	New Line	.71 (870)	-29%	816	17.8
Millions	Fox Searchlight	.57 (1,680)	-15%	339	4.6
Hitch	Sony	.54 (1,022)	-27%	528	177.4
Le Survenant	Alliance	.51 (4,410)	-16%	116	1.42
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films		$88.60	-	-	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-9%	-	-	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	0%	-	-	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Enron: The Smartest Guys …	Magnolia	.36 (7,770)	386%	47	0.47
House of D	Lions Gate	.18 (600)	-	304	0.23
Madison	MGM	.17 (1,760)	-38%	94	0.48
Ladies in Lavender	IDP	.14 (6,270)	-	22	0.14
Death of a Dynasty	TLA	29,400 (1,840)	-	16	0.03
The Holy Girl	New Line	27,200 (13,600)	-	2	0.03
3-Iron	Sony Classics	20,100 (2,870)	-	7	0.02
A Tout de suite	CineGuild	15,300 (15,300)	-	1	0.02
Come Away Home	IFG	13,100 (1,190)	-	11	0.01
Another Road Home	GeoQuest	7,340 (3,670)	-	2	0.01

Top Limited Releases - Jan 1 - April 28, 2005

Bride and Prejudice	Mrmx	6,508,719
Beyond the Sea	Lions Gate	5,307,776
Aliens of the Deep	BV	4,756,392
Downfall	Newmarket	4,665,841
Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior	Magnolia/Alliance	4,563,167
A Very Long Engagement	WIP	4,396,424
Being Julia	Sony Class/Think	4,221,165
Millions	Fox Searchlight	4,014,152
Kinsey	Fox Searchlight	3,929,716
Bad Education	Sony Class/Seville	3,740,716
The Merchant of Venice	Sony Classics	3,593,466
Melinda and Melinda	Fox Searchlight	3,458,406
Born into Brothels	Thinkfilm	3,218,223
Space Station	Imax	2,583,384
The Work and the Glory	Excel	2,300,992
The Sea Inside	NLC	1,881,053
Vera Drake	NLC	1,669,563
State Property 2	Lions Gate	1,635,262
Les Choristes	Alliance/Mrmx	1,592,116
Ma Vie en Cinemascope	Alliance	1,586,615

 

Domestic Market Share: To April 28, 2005

Company (releases)	Box Office	Percentage
Sony (11)	416.9	16.70%
Warner Bros. (12)	362.1	14.50%
Universal (9)	308.8	12.30%
Fox (8)	290.1	11.60%
Miramax (10)	238.8	9.50%
Buena Vista (11)	211.2	8.40%
MGM (7)	160.9	6.40%
Paramount (6)	156.7	6.30%
DreamWorks (2)	77.2	3.10%
Lions Gate (7)	62.8	2.50%
Fox Searchlight (6)	62.4	2.50%
New Line (8)	47.7	1.90%
Sony Classics (10)	28.9	1.10%
Focus (3)	21.6	0.90%
Other * (101)	58.3	2.30%
* none greater than .06%	2504.4	100.00%