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

June 17, 2007 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer glided to an estimated $57.7 million to take command of weekend movie going. In a slightly depressed marketplace the box office gods dismissed a revived Nancy Drew that ranked seventh overall with a meager $7.2 million. Similarly specialty newcomers were largely unimpressive though the Bollywood entry Jhoom Barabar Jhoom had a better than respectable $440,000 box office from 83 theaters. Exceeding industry expectations the Fantastic Four sequel arrived with a marginally better gross than its inspiration that opened to $56 million two years ago. The studio strategy of targeting to under 18s and the first film's appeal to a youth audience certainly translated in the picture's launch. Going forward it may have a more difficult time pitted against family friendly movies. Conversely the bow of Nancy Drew though perceived as soft turned out to be less of a draw than predicted. There was scant evidence of rooted interest among young girls or past generations weaned on the teenage sleuth. Weekend ticket sales inched toward $145 million for a 6% boost from last week's Ocean's Thirteen frame. Still it lagged behind 2006 when the $33.7 million second weekend of Cars led with debuts of Nacho Libre and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift on its tail. The year to date tally of $4.2 billion is roughly 3.5% improved from the comparable 2006 pace and just marginally better in terms of admissions. In that respect it conforms to viewing trends of the past two decades. However, this was supposed to be the summer that would turn around the industry's fortunes with the troika of Pirates, Spider-Man and Shrek spearheading the onslaught. The reality is considerably less rosy in large part because those and other titles haven't expended the base of frequent movie goers or enticed those that rarely attend to abandon the comfy perch of their sofa. Holdover titles generally experienced 40% declines with the continued exception of Knocked Up that has weathered buffeting from the season's tent poles and sailed through with aplomb. It's yet to be determined whether Ocean's Thirteen with a bias toward an older crowd will replicate that tenacity. In limited wide release the genre DOA: Dead or Alive lived up to half its title with a grim $460 theater average that eked out $230,000. Last weekend's frosh Hostel Part II took a brutal 66% plunge following a disappointing launch. Good but hardly exceptional preems were the order of the day for exclusive engagements of the New Zealand comedy Eagle vs. Shark and the documentary Gypsy Caravan. Considerably more encouraging was the expansion of the musical bio La Vie en Rose that added 57 engagements and maintained an impressive $8,230 theater average. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - June 15-17, 2007 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer Fox 57.7 (14,580) - 3959 58.7 Ocean's Thirteen WB 19.1 (5,370) -47% 3565 69.8 Knocked Up Uni 14.6 (5,010) -28% 2907 90.5 Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End BV 11.8 (3,550) -46% 3329 273.6 Surf's Up Sony 9.1 (2,580) -48% 3531 34.5 Shrek the Third Par 8.8 (2,520) -42% 3505 297.1 Nancy Drew WB 7.2 (2,750) - 2612 7.2 Mr. Brooks MGM 2.9 (1,500) -41% 1923 23.5 Hostel 2 Lions Gate 2.8 (1,200) -66% 2350 14 Spider-Man 2 Sony 2.4 (1,330) -44% 1822 329.9 Waitress Searchlight 1.2 (2,010) -23% 615 14 La Vie en Rose TVA/Picturehouse .65 (8,230) 265% 79 2.6 Once Fox Searchlight .55 (4,580) 11% 120 2.5 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $138.80 - - - % Change (Last Year) - -6% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 6% - - - Also debuting/expanding Paris je t'aime First Look .44 (2,210) 0% 200 2.7 Jhoom Barabar Jhoom Yash Raj .36 (4,320) - 83 0.36 DOA: Dead of Alive Weinstein Co. .23 (460) - 505 0.23 Ensemble, c'est tout Christal 73,300 (2,370) - 31 0.07 Eagle vs. Shark Miramax 20,200 (6,730) - 3 0.02 Gypsy Caravan Shadow 12,900 (6,450) - 2 0.01 Fido IDP 8,100 (4,050) - 2 0.01 Strike Laemmle/Zeller 4,400 (4,400) - 1 0.01 Limited Releases: To June 13, 2007 Title Distrubutor Gross Notes on a Scandal Fox Searchlight 16,889,774 The Last King of Scotland Fox Searchlight 13,987,084 The Namesake Fox Searchlight 13,327,623 Waitress Fox Searchlight 12,813,401 The Lives of Others Sony Classics 10,508,023 Volver Sony Class/Seville 8,667,708 The Painted Veil WIP 7,552,537 Deep Sea 3-D WB 6,290,158 Away from Her Mongrel/Lions Gate 4,758,305 Black Book Sony Classics 3,954,455 Venus Mrmx 3,233,893 Little Children NLC 2,987,970 Miss Potter MGM 2,955,981 Magnificent Desolation Imax 2,943,177 Peaceful Warrior (reissue) Uni 2,914,450 Ma Fille, Mon Ange Alliance 2,342,701 Paris je t'aime First Look 2,295,706 Perfume: Story of a Murderer Par 2,205,318 The Host Magnolia 2,193,660 The Wind That Shakes the Barley IFC/Christal 2,192,312 * none greater than 710 playdates Domestic Market Share: To June 13, 2007 Distributor (Releases) Gross Market Share Sony (17) 840.4 20.50% Paramount (13) 816.1 19.90% Buena Vista (13) 650.4 15.90% Warner Bros. (18) 515.1 12.60% Universal (10) 297.1 7.20% Fox (13) 289.4 7.10% New Line (6) 108.5 2.60% MGM (12) 102.6 2.50% Lions Gate (11) 95.1 2.30% Fox Searchlight (9) 72.9 1.80% Miramax (5) 43.4 1.10% Picturehouse (3) 40.3 1.00% Focus (2) 39.5 1.00% Sony Classics (10) 30.9 0.70% Weinstein Co. (5) 26.4 0.60% Par Vantage (3) 25.4 0.60% Other * (122) 104.4 2.60% * none greater than 0.5% 4097.9 100.00%