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

April 29, 2007 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Next Can't Happen Too Soon... The weekend box office buzz primarily focused on next weekend's debut of Spider-Man 3 rather than anything with currency. And it was for good reason! Disturbia was for the third weekend the top grosser with an estimated $9.1 million and a quartet of freshmen releases failed to spark much audience interest. The spooky teen thriller The Invisible ranked second with $7.7 million while another paranormal yarn - Next starring Nicolas Cage - followed at $6.9 million. Further down the list were The Condemned, a tale of prisoners in a survival game that grossed $3.6 million and the teen musical Kickin' It Old School with $2.4 million. The news wasn't much better for niche and alternative fare though Bollywood's Ta Ra Rum Pum opened well at $370,000 and there were good per screens for Jindabyne and Hong Kong import Triad Election. Otherwise there was barely a flicker for such varied fare as the thriller Wind Chill, American independent Diggers and fest favorite Snow Cake. Overall business took a sharp hit again with weekend revenues inching toward $75 million. It repped a 16% decline from the prior frame and was 28% behind the comparable 2006 session when debuting entries RV, United 93 and Stick It topped the charts with respective box office of $16.4 million, $11.5 million and $10.8 million.. Weekend business was lower than any frame in 2006 and one has to reel back to 2005 to find a film that topped the charts with less than a $10 million gross. While box office for the year to date is 1.5% better than last year's record, it was as high as 12% improved until April's onslaught of mediocre performers. So, all eyes are on Spider-Man 3 to provide a reversal of fortunes. Industry expectations are that the web spinner will ensnare at least $100 million in its opening weekend and as much as $125 million. While last year's hopes for Mission: Impossible III were considerably lower, its $47.7 million opening salvo was also significantly below expectations. Spider-Man 3 has considerable weight to lift following weeks of growing indifference to pictures that were perceived as second-rate are sometimes cynical rip offs of past popular entries. Among the debuting product, only The Invisible registered what could be considered an acceptable engagement average for a programmer with both The Condemned and Kickin' barely registering a blip on the commercial radar screen. The inability of Cage to draw in audiences for a critically well received thriller was crushing for Next but, reviews aside, similar fates have befallen Perfect Stranger and Fracture in recent weeks. While summer promises some strong Bollywood entries and Ta Ra Rum Pum's performance certainly bodes well for crystal gazers, the past weekend's niche entries were generally less favorably received. Wind Chill's theatrical presence appeared to be fulfilling contractual obligations and the strategy of simultaneous DVD and HDNet launches for the likes of Diggers (and Color Me Kubrick in April) appears to be least impressive for movie theaters and unlikely to spawn commercial imitators. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals - April 27 - 29, 2007 - - Title Distrib Weekend % Change Theaters Cume Wks 1 1 Disturbia Par 9,023,835 -31% 3047 52,109,598 3 2 New The Invisible BV 7,717,309 - 2019 7,717,309 1 3 New Next Par 7,133,049 - 2725 7,133,049 1 4 2 Fracture New Line 6,814,714 -38% 2443 21,075,259 2 5 3 Blades of Glory Par 5,164,364 -33% 3056 108,050,741 5 6 6 Hot Fuzz Focus 4,876,867 -17% 1272 12,601,055 2 7 5 Meet the Robinsons BV 4,840,972 -30% 2461 88,354,540 5 8 4 Vacancy Sony 4,112,502 -46% 2551 13,780,060 2 9 New The Condemned Lions Gate 3,807,595 - 2310 3,807,595 1 10 7 Are We Done Yet? Sony 3,450,922 -33% 2701 43,868,838 4 11 8 In the Land of Women WB 2,657,425 -44% 2155 8,566,083 2 12 New Kickin' It Old School FreeStyle 2,541,419 - 1816 2,541,419 1 13 9 Perfect Stranger Sony 2,172,323 -47% 2197 21,590,618 3 14 10 Wild Hogs BV 1,840,994 -35% 1602 158,723,493 9 15 11 300 WB 1,387,466 -38% 1005 206,897,885 8 16 17 The Hoax Miramax 760,550 -38% 981 6,228,666 4 17 15 Shooter Par 751,524 -46% 718 45,787,042 6 18 21 The Namesake Fox Searchlight 721,024 -5% 320 10,771,198 8 19 13 The Reaping WB 712,294 -57% 933 24,064,624 4 20 14 Grindhouse Weinstein Co. 576,130 -59% 618 23,887,068 4 21 12 Pathfinder Fox 540,516 -71% 782 9,436,054 3 22 19 TNMT WB 492,467 -49% 710 53,051,256 6 23 18 Firehouse Dog Fox 463,494 -55% 659 12,689,837 4 24 New Ta Ra Rum Pum Yash Raj 425,102 - 85 425,102 1 25 27 Black Book Sony Classics 391,356 68% 103 1,174,583 4 26 16 Redline Chicago Pics 381,329 -71% 610 6,678,765 3 27 33 Year of the Dog Par Vantage 309,318 132% 131 627,916 3 28 24 The Lives of Others Sony Classics 305,838 -2% 189 9,067,448 12 29 20 Aqua Teen Hunger Team First Look 265,716 -69% 363 5,265,735 3 30 23 Night at the Museum Fox 260,796 -33% 284 250,210,624 19 31 22 Premonition Sony 223,028 -46% 327 47,852,604 7 32 26 Ghost Rider Sony 186,578 -22% 283 115,802,596 11 33 25 Amazing Grace IDP 174,883 -31% 259 20,674,957 10 34 28 Norbit Par 170,972 -15% 220 95,323,496 12 35 29 The Last Mimzy New Line 147,812 -20% 279 20,520,225 6 36 32 Deep Sea 3-D WB 131,850 -7% 35 26,804,471 61 37 36 After the Wedding IFC  113,873 1% 41 572,218 5 38 42 The Valet Sony Classics 111,313 65% 16 205,511 2 39 35 Avenue Montaigne (Orchestra Seats) Thinkfilm/Seville 108,763 -6% 52 1,637,450 30 40 40 The Wind That Shakes the Barley IFC/Christal 103,673 13% 50 1,625,755 7 41 41 A vos marques … Party Christal 99,649 35% 61 1,531,808 5 42 31 The Hills Have Eyes II Fox 87,803 -39% 149 20,506,614 6 43 30 Reign Over Me Sony 81,416 -55% 144 19,661,987 6 44 38 Miss Potter MGM 77,873 -14% 102 2,554,250 18 45 37 Music and Lyrics WB 72,941 -30% 148 50,437,750 11 46 39 Bridge to Terabithia BV 66,699 -26% 123 81,175,178 11 47 61 Zodiac Par 66,687 126% 177 33,048,353 9 48 45 Roving Mars BV 60,210 16% 12 6,929,991 66 49 51 Journey from the Fall ImaginAsia 60,100 34% 13 498,000 6 50 58 La Vie en Rose TVA 59,202 71% 38 1,438,763 7 51 57 Ne le dis a personne Seville 58,371 62% 18 117,640 2 52 55 Moliere Christal 57,876 51% 27 262,236 3 53 44 Magnificent Desolation Imax 52,133 -3% 10 18,884,901 83 54 50 Wild Safari 3-D nWave 47,154 -1% 8 12,930,355 108 55 43 Daddy's Little Girl Lions Gate 44,840 -27% 105 31,554,898 11 56 49 Pan's Labyrinth Picturehouse 44,249 -9% 67 37,457,946 18 57 46 The Host Magnolia 44,118 -14% 63 2,079,462 8 58 RE Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss Indican 43,308 - 27 293,701 6 59 52 The Number 23 New Line 42,490 -2% 134 35,626,798 10 60 54 Dead Silence Uni 33,996 -17% 78 16,662,897 7 61 New Diggers Magnolia 32,867 17 32,867 1 62 72 Quand j'etais chanteur Equinoxe 32,251 64% 8 65,923 2 63 69 Happy Feet WB 30,095 33% 93 197,961,083 24 64 48 The Lookout Miramax 28,758 -41% 54 4,587,858 5 65 New Jindabyne Sony Classics 28,298 - 6 28,298 1 66 47 Pride Lions Gate 27,350 -45% 49 7,084,950 6 67 63 The TV Set Thinkfilm  25,876 -7% 19 146,359 4 68 62 Breach Uni 25,757 -12% 69 33,133,318 11 69 59 Sharkwater Alliance 24,853 -21% 30 572,941 6 70 New Fakers Indican 22,750