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

June 19, 2005 Weekend Finals Domestic Grossers Market Share Batman Begins … the Beguine Batman Begins began with an impressive domestic weekend bow estimated at $46.6 million. It wasn't quite as commercially potent as pundits had anticipated but there's little doubt that the new entry has revived the franchise and barring extreme box office declines should spawn a sequel around 2008. The frame also featured a lackluster opening for the romantic comedy The Perfect Man of $5.6 million and, in regional play, Idole instantanee grossed a solid $750,000 from 104 screens in Quebec. While overall activity in the marketplace appeared to be on the upswing, the weekend still trailed last year by 2%. Batman Begins, the long-gestating movie renewal of the caped crimefighter, bowed last Wednesday to slightly more than $15 million and appeared primed to set some box office records. However, the jump start slowed weekend momentum and following Friday business of about $15.7 million had a modest 18% box office boost on Saturday. Exit polls and critical response were strong but the film is attracting an older crowd with initial surveys pegging over-25s at 56% of the audience. Its five-day gross was $70.7 million. The film also debuted in 73 international territories with an initial estimate of $41 million from roughly 8,000 screens. Britain posted the strongest response with a $7.8 million gross but, unlike other U.S. franchises, Batman historically has been soft overseas and combined with wilting weather in Europe debuted on the continent with mixed results. Germany, generally the top Euro territory, lagged behind its neighbor nations with $1.8 million while France opened to $3 million, Spain with $2.5 million and Italy grossing $2.2 million. Latin America was strong overall with Mexico buoyant at $4.2 million. Australia recorded $3.15 million and Japan was also good with $2.9 million. South Korea opens the picture next weekend. Overall domestic weekend business should clock in at about $135 million for a 7% decline from seven days earlier. Heading into the fifth month of consistent box office drops from 2004, expectations were high that this would be the turnaround weekend but it turned out to be close but not cigar with the Dark Knight grossing slightly less than the combined grosses of last years Dodgeball ($30 million) and The Terminal ($19 million). Following its dynamic debut last weekend, Mr. & Mrs. Smith dropped close to 50% to $26.1 million to rank second. Most of the remaining holdover titles experienced drops of one-third to one-half of prior weekend activity. The Perfect Man offered the frame's counter-programming but the public showed little evidence of taking up the option. It wound up seventh in the lineup with $5.6 million. The Japanese animated Howl's Moving Castle went from 36 to 202 theaters and recorded good but not exceptional results of $820,000. New limited and regional titles included some upbeat bows including the Quebec comedy Idole instantanee with a $750,000 box office. A Wednesday opener, it entered the weekend with an additional $135,000. The acclaimed British import My Summer of Love scored close to a $5,000 theater average from 17 locations and an $84,400 gross while the American indie Heights garnered about $55,000 from seven engagements. Sundance fave Me and You and Everyone We Know opened on a single screen with a very strong tally of better than $30,000. Trailing the field was the political thriller The Deal with an $11,300 tally from eight screens. - by Leonard Klady

Weekend Estimates - June 17-19, 2005

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Batman Begins	WB	46.6 (12,070)	-	3858	70.7
Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Fox	26.1 (7,550)	-48%	3451	96.7
Madagascar	DmWks	11.2 (3,180)	-35%	3533	141.3
Star Wars: Epi. III - Revenge of the Sith	Fox	9.5 (3,260)	-36%	2923	347.6
The Longest Yard	Par	8.1 (2,450)	-42%	3312	132
Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl	Miramax	6.6 (2,490)	-47%	2655	23.9
The Perfect Man	Uni	5.6 (2,670)	-	2087	5.6
Cinderella Man	Uni	5.3 (2,040)	-45%	2610	43.6
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	WB	3.3 (1,510)	-42%	2206	30.4
The Honeymooners	Par	2.5 (1,320)	-55%	1912	9.4
Crash	Lions Gate	1.3 (1,970)	-35%	651	46.1
Monster-in-Law	New Line	1.2 (1,060)	-53%	1165	78.8
Howl's Moving Castle	BV	.82 (4,070)	92%	202	1.44
Idole instantanee	Alliance	.75 (7,210)	-	104	0.88
High Tension	Lions Gate	.53 (440)	-72%	1209	3.1
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$129.40	-	-	-
% Change (Last Year)	-	-2%	-	-	-
% Change (Last Week)	-	-7%	-	-	-
Also Debuting/Expanding
My Summer of Love	Focus	84,400 (4,970)	-	17	0.08
Heights	Sony Classics	55,100 (7,870)	-	7	0.06
Me and You and Everyone We Know	IFC	30,200 (30,200)	-	1	0.03
The Deal	Front Street	11,300 (1,410)	-	8	0.01
The Great Water	Picture This	4,920 (4,920)	-	1	0.01

Top Domestic Releases: To June 16, 2005

Title	Distributor	Gross
Star Wars: Epi III - Revenge of the Sith	Fox	338,102,187
Hitch	Sony	179,214,284
Meet the Fockers *	Uni	146,401,395
Madagascar	DmWks	136,094,521
Robots	Fox	127,349,447
The Longest Yard	Par	123,904,618
The Pacifier	BV	111,885,810
Million Dollar Baby *	WB	99,622,820
Are We There Yet?	Sony	82,531,160
The Aviator *	Mrmx/WB	78,489,588
Monster-in-Law	NLC	77,571,918
The Ring Two	DmWks	76,231,249
Constantine	WB	75,567,648
Sin City	Mrmx	73,607,378
The Interpreter	Uni	71,335,680
Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Fox	70,660,963
Guess Who	Sony	68,537,168
Sahara	Par	67,575,752
Coach Carter	Par	67,264,877
The Amityville Horror	MGM	65,233,369
* does not include 2004 box office

 

Domestic Market Share: To June 16, 2005

Company (releases)	Box Office	Percentage
Fox (11)	761.4	19.90%
Sony (13)	462.5	12.10%
Warner Bros. (16)	450.3	11.70%
Universal (11)	439.1	11.40%
Paramount (8)	303.9	7.90%
Buena Vista (13)	281.4	7.30%
Miramax (13)	266.6	7.00%
DreamWorks (3)	214.1	5.60%
MGM (8)	181.9	4.70%
New Line (10)	128.7	3.40%
Lions Gate (9)	111.1	2.90%
Fox Searchlight (6)	65.1	1.70%
Focus (4)	45.8	1.20%
Sony Classics (13)	39.6	1.00%
Other * (127)	84.4	2.20%
* none greater than 0.5%	3835.9	100.00%