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

June 12, 2005 Weekend Finals Worldwide Grossers Market Share The Couple That Plays Together ... If there was any concern that off-screen antics might aversely impact the box office of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, those fears evaporated around noon Friday. The extreme, star-charged romantic comedy handily mowed down the competition to lead weekend movie going with an estimated $50.8 million. The box office gods were less kind to a trio of other national releases. The 3-D tyke yarn The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl bowed with an OK $12.3 million to rank fifth overall while the big screen translation of The Honeymooners was less than a love affair with a non-confidence response of roughly $5.7 million and the graphic horror entry High Tension that grossed a non-chilling $1.8 million. In the niches, the limited bow of the animated Japanese blockbuster Howl's Moving Castle had an excellent first encounter with an $11,700 average from 36 engagements. The real life adventures and romantic speculation surrounding Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that have dominated soft news for weeks prompted pundits to wonder whether their screen coupling might wind up echoing the curse of Ben and Jen. The comparison proved to be apples to oranges as Mr. & Mrs. Smith bowed with the sort of commercial force that's guaranteed to get the industry's attention. The playful mix of action and droll comedy received high marks for chemistry while its tale of a contract killer couple (remember Prizzi's Honor?) assigned to rub each other out was regarded as just passable. However, that was more than sufficient to render boffo results. The prolific Robert Rodriguez also received high marks for slap dash enthusiasm for his kid targeted The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. The film also had a bit more on its mind with glancing reference to gender stereotype but performed with no better than programmer strength that should result in acceptable theatrical returns and likely torrid returns when it segues to home video. The reinvention of the classic '50s television skien The Honeymooners into a light-hearted modern marital saga set among African Americans had long been viewed skeptically and public response certainly proved the doubting Thomas's correct. The dumbing down of the original failed to generate much of a commercial spark with ancillary prospects immediately ratcheted down several notches based on its opening gross. The oft-delayed French gorefest High Tension failed to connect with aficionados as it limped to a $1.8 million box office. Audiences somehow sensed that there was little substance and insufficient blood to pump up interest. Overall business climbed to about $142 million for a tidy 8% boost from last weekend but remained 11% behind 2004 when the third Harry Potter installment remained at the top of the charts with a $35 million weekend and four other titles - including debuts of The Chronicles of Riddick and Garfield - each generated more than $20 million grosses. The industry is banking that the Wednesday bow of Batman Begins will prompt a box office reversal of fortune and any other result simply remains unacceptable. While steep sophomore drops for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Lords of Dogtown came as no surprise, the nearly 50% erosion of Cinderella Man came as a big and disturbing left hook for movie mavens. The Depression-era tale of an unlikely boxing contender was well reviewed and scored highly with audiences but there simply were not enough of the latter. While its opening salvo proved softer than expected, its mid-week was expected to be strong and when it too underperformed, anxiety began to rise. In retrospect the marketing of the film as a rags to riches yarn at the expense of its tale of family and relationships appears to have been a significant miscalculation. Despite an animation Oscar for Spirited Away, the animated work of Miyazaki has been slow to catch on in North America. His latest Howl's Moving Castle has already grossed more than $200 million in Japan and a handful of European territories and this strikingly original fable connects with the cognoscenti as evidenced by Disney's limited 36-theater bow and $420,000 box office. Expansion prospects look promising and hopefully will surpass the earlier entry's $10 million theatrical gross. Regional and alternative debuts were unspectacular with the Bollywood entry Parineeta generating a serviceable $210,000 from 50 locations. The adaptation of The Bridge of San Luis Rey took a low profile with a limp $17,000 return at six sites while the French marital drama 5 x 2 proved more potent also with a $17,000 gross but on just two screens. The British doc McLibel on a famous court case against the fast food giant returned small change of $2,130 from a single outing. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - June 10-12, 2005

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Fox	50.8 (14,830)	-	3424	50.8
Madagascar	DmWks	17.2 (4,380)	-39%	3929	128.4
Star Wars: Epi. III - Revenge of the Sith	Fox	14.6 (4,380)	-42%	3322	331.8
The Longest Yard	Par	13.4 (3,660)	-49%	3654	118
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl	Miramax	12.3 (4,630)	-	2655	12.3
Cinderella Man	Uni	9.4 (3,340)	-49%	2820	34.3
The Honeymooners	Par	5.7 (2,970)	-	1912	5.7
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	WB	5.6 (2,170)	-43%	2583	23.6
Monster-in-Law	New Line	2.6 (1,310)	-57%	1949	76.4
Crash	Lions Gate	1.9 (2,110)	-17%	908	43
Lords of Dogtown	Sony	1.8 (990)	-67%	1865	9.4
High Tension	Lions Gate	1.8 (1,380)	-	1323	1.8
Kicking and Screaming	Uni	.68 (900)	-71%	754	48.3
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$126.90	-	-	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-11%	-	-	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	8%	-	-	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
Howl's Moving Castle	BV	.42 (11,720)	-	36	0.42
Mad Hot Ballroom	Par Classics	.36 (2,880)	5%	126	1.7
Parineeta	UTV	.21 (4,240)	-	50	0.21
The Bridge of San Luis Rey	New Line	17,700 (2,950)	-	6	0.02
5 x 2	Thinkfilm	17,200 (8,620)	-	2	0.02
McLibel	Cinemalibre	2,130 (2,130)	-	1	0.01

Top Worldwide Releases: To June 12, 2005

Title	Distributor	Gross
Star Wars: Epi III - Revenge of the Sith	Fox	635,061,177
Meet the Fockers	Uni	372,002,272
Hitch	Sony	362,675,382
Robots	Fox	239,403,385
Constantine	WB	229,521,935
Million Dollar Baby	WB/Lakeshore	208,364,996
Kingdom of Heaven	Fox	199,463,398
The Aviator	Miramx/Initial	190,313,237
The Pacifier	BV	180,501,780
Ocean's Twelve	WB	176,333,457
The Ring Two	DmWks/UIP	156,388,883
The Incredibles	BV	154,937,633
The Interpreter	Uni	140,332,978
National Treasure	BV	139,705,902
Hide and Seek	Fox	121,929,759
Madagascar	DmWks/UIP	120,289,162
The Longest Yard	Par/CTSI	108,749,908
The Phantom of the Opera	WB/Odyssey	107,774,326
Sahara	Par/I.S. Film	102,189,882
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous	WB	100,621,826
* does not include 2004 box office

 

Domestic Market Share: To June 9, 2005

Company (releases)	Box Office	Percentage
Fox (10)	669.2	18.60%
Sony (13)	459.3	12.70%
Universal (11)	423.8	11.80%
Warner Bros. (15)	416.7	11.50%
Buena Vista (12)	279.9	7.80%
Paramount (7)	277.3	7.70%
Miramax (11)	249.2	6.90%
DreamWorks (3)	189.2	5.20%
MGM (8)	181.6	5.00%
New Line (10)	124.9	3.50%
Lions Gate (8)	105.8	2.90%
Fox Searchlight (6)	65.1	1.80%
Focus (4)	45.5	1.30%
Sony Classics (13)	39.1	1.10%
Other * (123)	80.4	2.20%
* none greater than 0.5%	3607	100.00%