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

November 27, 2005 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Harry Kash Cow Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire maintained its command of weekend viewing with an estimated $55.2 million 3-day weekend in a generally bountiful Thanksgiving holiday period. Johnny Cash-ed about $19.5 million in Walk the Line to rank second again and a handful of national debuts returned good to disappointing results. In limited and regional bows the hot news included a stunning bow for the political thriller Syriana and a potent slap shot for the screen bio of Maurice Richard in Quebec. Overall business was near record levels for the holiday of $230 million set in 2000 and finals could push it over the top. Potter's field declined 46% for its opening salvo domestically and pushed past a $200 million gross on its 10th day in theaters. Internationally it grossed an estimated $95.4 million from 42 markets including 23 new openings and also exceeded a $200 million total. The North American pace was better than the three previous entries save for the second. Among key territory bows, Japan bowed with $14.3 million and in Spain recorded the second best debut in the country of $8 million. Its $9.4 million launch in Italy set a new box office opening standard and similar results occurred in Brazil, Greece and Holland. Second weekends overseas generally reflected declines comparable to those domestically. Box office mavens and the industry took note of Walk the Line's resilience as it dipped just 13% and edged toward a $55 million cume that elevated the picture's award profile. A secondary beneficiary to its success is Sony that's reaping big rewards from sales of the singer's CDs. In a year in which Sony's film division has been plagued by less than stellar results, its decision to pass on the film bio is viewed as another black demerit point. Overall business for the three-day segment inched toward $175 million and that represented a 6% box office boost from 2004 with admissions up no more than 2%. Uncharacteristic but not unprecedented, the frame gross went down by 8%. And while finals should put the gross close to the record for the 5-day span, the admissions gap in the five ensuing years is considerable. Heading into the weekend the anticipation was highest for the film translation of the Broadway smash Rent. Its Wednesday bow of $4.6 million was second only to Harry Potter and given past performance arcs, projections of between $25 million and $30 million were posted. Unexpectedly audiences never improved and it finished the period with $17.3 million, trailing the remake of Yours, Mine and Ours that posted $24.3 million off of a $2.9 million opening day. The frame's other debuts arrived with lower bars to clear but only the romantic comedy Just Friends demonstrated any drawing power. It ranked sixth overall with a three-day gross of $9.3 million ($13.6 final) close on the heels of Rent. In the Mix, a vehicle for pop star Usher, ranked eighth with a five-day gross of $4.5 million and the noir thriller The Ice Harvest followed with $3.7 million. Most of the holdover titles felt the big squeeze with a major exception being Disney's Chicken Little. Also unexpectedly strong was Pride and Prejudice that added about 1,000 playdates and still posted a healthy $5,300 theater average. Upscale stalwarts Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck and The Squid and the Whale all had slight box office upturns. In the niches, the major eye opener was Syriana with a five-day gross of $570,000 from five locations that may be an all-time record for engagement average. Critical response positive and negative both cited the yarn's sometimes impenetrable plot but audiences were obviously hungry for entertainment that attempted to grapple with the nation's current quagmire in the Middle East. Also back for the holidays was the Imax 3-D version of The Polar Express and the result (despite its near simultaneous arrival on DVD) was anything but frigid with a $1.4 million from 66 big screens. In Quebec the 134 screen launch of the bioflic Maurice Richard lived up to the hockey legend's nickname "Rocket." It got off the pad with close to $1 million. The frame's single and double screen debuts posted passable if unspectacular results including Down to the Bone and A Touch of Spice, the latter Greece's all-time home grown hit that's also been an art house success in Europe. - by Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - November 18-20, 2005 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change Theaters Cume Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire WB 55.2 (14,300) -46% 3858 201.4 Walk the Line Fox 19.5 (6,200) -13% 3138 54.5 Yours, Mine and Ours Par 17.3 (5,400) - 3206 24.3 Chicken Little BV 12.8 (3,670) -13% 3475 118.6 Rent Sony 10.5 (4,300) - 2433 17.7 Just Friends New Line 9.3 (3,720) - 2505 13.6 Pride and Prejudice Focus 6.9 (5,300) 221% 1299 15.6 Derailed Weinstein Co 4.6 (2,250) -29% 2061 29.3 In the Mix Lions Gate 4.5 (2,820) - 1608 6.3 The Ice Harvest Focus 3.7 (2,360) - 1550 5.1 Zathura Sony 3.6 (1,110) -30% 3232 25.9 Jarhead Uni 2.9 (1,800) -39% 1601 59.4 Saw II Lions Gate 2.2 (1,670) -44% 1326 84 Get Rich or Die Tryin' Par 2.1 (1,760) -52% 1213 28.4 Good Night, and Good Luck WIP 1.8 (2,980) 10% 617 19.5 The Polar Express Imax (reissue) WB 1.2 (18,360) - 66 1.4 Maurice Richard Alliance .94 (7,010) - 134 0.94 Capote Sony Classics .92 (3,610) 9% 255 9.1 The Legend of Zorro Sony .87 (1,130) -63% 767 44.5 Shopgirl BV .75 (2,180) -27% 344 8.8 Dreamer DreamWorks .52 (900) -57% 579 31.7 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $176.10 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 6% - % Change (Last Week) - -8% - - - Also Debuting/Expanding Syriana WB .39 (77,600) - 5 0.57 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang WB .34 (2,010) -33% 168 3.4 The Squid and the Whale IDP .33 (4,074) 19% 82 3.8 Bee Season Fox Searchlight .27 (970) 14% 277 1.4 Deewane Huye Paagal UTV .18 (3,790) - 48 0.18 The Libertine Weinstein Co 25,800 (12,900) - 2 0.03 Streets of Legend Lions Gate 9,500 (9,500) - 1 0.01 Down to the Bone Laem/Zell 8,700 (4,350) - 2 0.01 A Touch of Spice Menemsha 4,200 (4,200) - 1 0.01 Domestic Market Share - November 22, 2005 Distributor (releases) Gross Percentage Warner Bros. (28) 1252 16.30% Fox (19) 1197.4 15.60% Universal (20) 812.2 10.60% Sony (24) 801.6 10.40% Paramount (14) 750.3 9.80% Buena Vista (21) 674.7 8.80% DreamWorks (9) 500.3 6.50% New Line (15) 392.4 5.10% Miramax (22) 360.6 4.70% Lions Gate (18) 267.4 3.50% MGM (8) 182.6 2.40% Focus (9) 110.9 1.50% Fox Searchlight (9) 83.9 1.10% Sony Classics (24) 58.3 0.80% Other * (225) 227.4 2.90% * none greater than .05% 7672 100.00%