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

November 6 , 2005 Weekend Estimates Fabulous .. But Not Incredibles Excellent openings for the animated Chicken Little - estimated at $39.6 million - and a $28.8 million bow for the Desert Storm-set Jarhead led weekend filmgoing to hearty overall business of roughly $135 million. However, despite robust debuts and continuing runs the box office still trailed 2004 when The Incredibles blew into town with a $70 million initial salvo. Expectations were high for Chicken Little ... just not quite as high as was anticipated. Saturday business topped what was expected to be a 50% by 12% and put its tally close to $40 million rather than $35 million. The cellular clucker also debuted in four territories including Mexico and Russia and in each it was a clear winner. In Mexico it grossed roughly $3.1 million while Russia gross was about $1.1 million and Taiwan estimated are pegged at $450,000.   Despite a slight drop in Saturday businees, Jarhead enlisted far more moviegoers than tracking had indicated. The saga of marines in Kuwait was thought to skew decidedly upscale but initial exit reports suggested a 50/50 split for the above/below 25s and that significantly altered its gross.   Virtually every holdover title performed better than expected against the incoming pictures with often surprisingly insignificant drops such as Flightplan's 16% erosion. Overall that translated into a powerful 36% boost from seven days earlier but, as noted, still lagging a jot behind one year ago.   Saw II managed less than a 50% drop while The Legend of Zorro wasn't much more than one-third behind its opening salvo and Prime lived up to its moniker playing at 87% of initial capacity.   The session also saw significant expansion for both Good Night, and Good Luck and Shopgirl. The former moved up to 657 locations from 272 and maintained a very healthy theater average of $4,670. Shopgirl added 451 venues and saw its box office swell by 445%. There’s no question that Good Night is having better appeal than initially perceived while the verdict on Shopgirl is on course with several move crucial hurdles to clear.   Activity in the limited and niche arenas were on the slow side with a have dozen titles posting largely modest returns. One notable exception was Depha Mehta's Water - the completion of her India trilogy that opened the Toronto Film Fest - that grossed roughly $89,000 from eight engagements. There were also good returns for The Dying Gaul, an oddball love triangle that posted about $43,000 from 10 venues. - by Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - November 4-6, 2005 Film Distrib Gross (Avg) Screens % Change Cume Chicken Little BV 39.6 (10,830) 3654 New 39.6 Jarhead Uni - 2411 New 28.8 Saw II LGF 17.1 (5,810) 2949 -46 60.4 The Legend of Zorro Sony 10.1 (2,860) 3520 -38 30.4 Prime Uni 5.4 (2,940) 1837 -13 13.6 Dreamer DmWk 4.7 (1,810) 2617 -23 23.8 Good Night, and Good Luckck WIP 3.1 (4,670) 657 153% 11 Weather Man Par 2.8 (1,890) 1510 -33 8.6 Shopgirl BV 2.5 (5,140) 459 445 2.5 Flightplan BV 2.3 (1,590) 1445 -16 84.4 Wallace & gromit DmWk 2.1 (910) 2278 -52% 52.8 North Country WB 2.0 (920) 2211 -43% 15.5 The Fog Sony 1.9 (1,150) 1669 -38% 27.9 Doom Uni 1.7 (880) 1986 -59% 26.2 Elizabethtown Par 1.5 (940) 1638 -35% 25.1 In Her Shoes Fox 1.1 (1,400) 791 -35% 31.1 Capote Sony Class .88 (4,710) 187 -20% 4.8 A History of Violence NLC .77 (1,090) 707 -43% 29.9 G Aloha .55 (1,220) 340 -50% 2.7 Wknd Total (+500k) $128.90 - - - % Change (2004) -8% - - - % Change (last week) 36% - - - Debut/Expansion Kiss Kiss Bang Bang WB .36 (4,540) 80 7% 1.1 Water Mongrel 89,000 (11,120) 8 New 0.09 The Dying Gaul Holedigger 43,200 (4,320) 10 New 0.04