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

May 15, 2005 Lemon Aid A couple of comedies and a human canine provided a little bit of zest to weekend movie going. Absence may have made the heart go Fonda as Monster-in-Law nosed ahead of the sports themed comedy Kicking and Screaming with the two films posting respective estimated grosses of $22.9 million and $21 million. There was also a strong showing for Jet Li's Unleashed that ranked third with $10.3 million but not much action for Mindhunters that eked out $1.9 million in its debut. Overall the new titles propelled the box office to about $103 million for an encouraging 17% boost from the prior weekend. But business continued to lag behind 2004 by double-digits. While critical response was icy, Monster-in-Law capitalized on its high concept theme and the star combination of Fonda and JLo to bring in opening weekend patrons. Emerging as a distaff Meet the Parents, the film's core appeal was unsurprisingly female and not quite as young as past vehicles for Lopez. Opening day was modestly softer than anticipated but the picture had a better than expected boost on Saturday. Aimed at teens and younger, Kicking and Screaming looked a lot like Bad News Bears for soccer fans and played pretty much like a family film despite star Will Ferrell's sometime risque banter. The top two films weren't particular stepping on each other's toes and wound up positioning themselves well on the cusp on the summer season's upcoming on-slaught of movies. Unlike past years, summer 2005 is starting later than usual as last weekend's bow of Kingdom of Heaven failed to ignite early May biz. The season was well underway 12 months ago with Troy debuting with $46.9 million and Van Helsing dropping precipitously in its sophomore session to $20.7 million for a weekend tally 10% greater than the current one. However, the doldrums are expected to lift Wednesday midnight with the final installment of the Star Wars saga. Industry mavens are crossing their fingers that the film's four-day run will hit $100 million but in the wake of recent lackluster attendance would stomach a $90 million domestic gross and shudder at the prospect of a $75 million first wave. The current weekend finally made Clint Eastwood's movie a $100 million Baby. This year's best picture Oscar recipient passed the same milestone internationally last weekend. Also debuting nationally was the Luc Besson production Unleashed with a quick kick of $10.3 million. The film opened in France (as Danny the Dog) and a few other European territories two months ago where it grossed an impressive $6 million plus tally. Miramax continued to unload its inventory with Mindhunters and scraped together about $1.9 million in its opening frame. The thriller played extensively in Europe and Asia last year and had fair returns of roughly $12 million. It shapes up as a quick candidate for video and cable rotation. Most holdover titles were experiencing 50% hits with the notable exception of Crash. Virtually the only film in the marketplace for mature audiences, the social drama slipped just 27% in its second weekend and could well maintain commercial legs through the July 4th weekend. Among the niche players, eyes were focused most sharply on the Brit gangster opus Layer Cake that commanded slightly better than $70,000 from 10 engagements. Sony Classics is orchestrating a national expansion much in the manner it blew out Kung Fu Hustle. The latter film's domestic performance has been hotly debated in industry circles chiefly in respect to the cost and effort to elevate its box office to $16 million and its rapid commercial immolation. Hustle had already grossed $66 million in Asia, so the bold move may pay off for future Asian and niche releases in a more demonstrable fashion. The best first steps of the weekend were planted by the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom, an audience pleaser centering around very young kids in ballroom dancing competition. In two exclusives it grossed around $45,000 and could well tap into the crowd that responded to Spellbound two years ago. The single screen non-fiction psycho-profile of Haskell Wexler - Tell Them Who You Are - was off to a shaky start with a $5,000 return from a single screen. There was good response to the French award winner Kings and Queen with a $15,000 plus box office from two venues but Modigliani largely got a commercial brush off as it eight ateliers rendered a sketchy $31,000 return. - by Leonard Klady