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

January 27, 2008 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Bo or No ... George S. Kaufman observed that "Satire is what closes on Saturday night." And whether audiences perceived Meet the Spartans and the resurrection of Rambo as film parodies or simply intuited the two movies as send ups, each struggled for bragging rights in the weekend box office derby. Spartans, the more obviously humorous assault, appeared to have a slight edge with an estimated $18.7 million debut to Stallone's vigilante warrior with $17.8 million. The frame also sported national bows for the cop meller Untraceable in fifth position with a languid $11.1 million and a disappointing $4 million for the teen dance romance How She Move. Additionally, the large format U2 3D had a tuneful $923,000 launch at 61 sites and the U.S. launch of Cannes top prized 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days was just a few admissions away from $50,000 from two venues. A clutch of other limited releases including The Air I Breath and the non-fiction Shoot Down barely registered a blip on the viewer meter. The sheer volume of incoming product abetted a general absence of opening gusto to pump up overall revenues by 17% from 2007. A year ago the Spartan crew's debut of Epic Movie led the session with an $18.6 million box office followed by the $14.6 million bow of Smokin' Aces. The weekend was anticipated as a fierce competition between the eventual leaders and the second weekend of fleeting phenom Cloverfield. Last weekend's leader was expected to take a hard 50% to 60% decline but dipped closer to 70% and found itself slipping to fourth in the lineup. The post Oscar-announcement frame saw Juno rock solid while a re-release of Michael Clayton generated a modest $1.9 million gross from a tad more than 1,100 theaters. The other best picture contenders also added playdates with There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men (winner of last night's Directors Guild honor) experiencing sizeable revenue boosts but Atonement slipping back slightly. Other nominees including The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Persepolis and The Savages benefited for Academy Award recognition while Sweeney Todd and Charlie Wilson's War continued to erode rapidly. Sweeney's international launch doesn't appear to be affected by its paucity of Oscar nods. The film opened at the top of the charts in England with roughly $4.5 million and also France where No Country was biting at its heels. Its Australian debut ranked second overall. The absence of Oscar didn't appear to impede the American opening of the highly lauded Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (it's grossed about $200,000 in Canada). - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - January 25-27, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Meet the Spartans Fox 18.7 (7,180) - 2605 18.7 Rambo Lions Gate 17.8 (6,480) - 2751 17.8 27 Dresses Fox 13.4 (4,260) -42% 3074 45.2 Cloverfield Par 12.6 (3,700) -68% 3411 64.2 Untraceable Sony 11.1 (4,690) - 2368 11.1 The Bucket List WB 9.9 (3,410) -29% 2915 57.4 Juno Fox Searchlight 9.7 (3,990) -3% 2426 99.5 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 4.6 (2,140) -39% 2154 205.4 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox 4.5 (1,840) -36% 2430 204.1 There Will Be Blood Par Vantage 4.5 (5,120) 54% 885 14.4 Mad Money Overture 4.2 (1,690) -46% 2470 14.9 How She Move Par Vantage 4.0 (2,590) - 1531 4 Atonement Focus 3.6 (2,590) -21% 1400 37.6 First Sunday Sony 3.2 (2,110) -59% 1503 34.3 No Country for Old Men Miramax 2.3 (2,060) 87% 1107 51.8 I Am Legend WB 2.1 (1,500) -57% 1405 251.6 Michael Clayton WB 1.9 (1,750) - 1102 41.4 Sweeney Todd Par 1.2 (1,300) -55% 936 50.6 The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Uni 1.2 (1,160) -55% 1016 10.2 U2 3D nWave .92 (15,130) - 61 1.1 Charlie Wilson's War Uni .83 (1,370) -58% 605 64.6 One Missed Call  WB .73 (910) -74% 803 26.1 The Water Horse Sony .63 (930) -65% 677 39.4 P.S. I Love You WB .61 (1,060) -69% 577 52 The Kite Runner Par Vantage .57 (1,700) -48% 335 13.8 The Great Debators MGM .51 (1,310) -61% 390 29.1 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $135.30 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 17% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -10% - - - Also debuting/expanding The Orphanage Picture/Christal .45 (1,890) -62% 238 6 The Savages Fox Searchlight .39 (2,370) -10% 166 4.2 Diving Bell and the Butterfly Miramax .39 (3,150) 0% 123 3.1 Persepolis Sony Classics .29 (5,460) 21% 54 1.3 Cassandra's Dream Weinstein Co. .18 (1,650) -51% 107 0.7 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days IFC 49,600 (24,900) - 2 0.05 Shoot Down Magnolia 42,200 (2,344) - 18 0.04 Sunday Eros 40,100 (2,670) - 15 0.04 The Air I Breath Thinkfilm 20,500 (2,930) - 7 0.02 Alice's House Vitagraph 14,300 (2,860) - 5 0.01   Domestic Market Share - To January 24, 2008 Distributor (titles) Gross* Market Share Warner Bros. (10) 150.9 22.70% Fox (5) 97.9 14.70% Buena Vista (5) 81.4 12.20% Paramount (4) 75.3 11.30% Fox Searchlight (3) 64.1 9.60% Sony (7) 59.9 9.00% Universal (3) 35.1 5.30% Focus (2) 22.8 3.40% Par Vantage (4) 17.8 2.70% MGM (5) 14.3 2.10% Overture (1) 10.7 1.60% Miramax (2) 9.7 1.50% New Line (1) 8.5 1.30% Picturehouse (1) 4.7 0.70% FreeStyle (2) 4.6 0.70% Other * (21) 7.9 1.20% - 445.6 100.00%