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

February 18 , 2008 Weekend Estimates Domestic Market Share Look Before You Leap ... The science-fiction romp Jumper squeezed ahead of the pack to claim the Presidents Day holiday crown bragging rights with an estimated 4-day gross of $30.9 million. A quartet of new releases dominated the top five ticket sellers that included a close race between the kid lit adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles at $22.9 million and dance madness Step Up 2: The Streets a pas behind at $22.2 million. The rom-com Definitely, Maybe bowed to $11.6 million. The session also saw a strong opening for the Bollywood entry Jodhaa Akbar of $1.5 million and good starts for the latest Romero zombie Diary of the Dead and the touring Oscar short subject program. Local entry Tout est parfait in Quebec was disappointing and Oscar short listed (but not nominated) The Year My Parents Went on Vacation from Brazil posted some OK returns. Depending how one chose to slice the frame, one could argue business was anywhere from flat to a noticeable decline of 13%. Literally speaking the 4-day holiday period should generate about $163 million and that would definitely translate into the high end erosion. However, new releases opted to open a day early on Thursday to capitalize of Valentine's Day. While that meant little to Spiderwick the three other films were hot out of the gate and collectively grossed about $18 million to help close the gap from 2007. Critically speaking Jumper and Spiderwick Chronicles got a thumping while Step Up 2 fared well marked on the curve and Definitely, Maybe tilted toward the former. One can already see erosion for the first three titles and the coming weeks offer no more than the prospect of a string of programmers with modest entertainment prospects. A general malaise has engulfed the nation's multiplexes and not even the Oscars have been able to provide a momentary commercial hiccup. In the final weekend prior to broadcast none of the chief contenders experienced a surge. The prospect that the ultimate best picture winner will not experience a post-awards upturn (even a brief one) and also-rans will keel over immediately is simply too grim to even voice out loud. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - February 15-18, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Jumper Fox 30.9 (9,020) - 3428 37.5 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 22.9 (5,950) - 3847 25.2 Step Up 2: The Streets BV 22.2 (8,980) - 2470 28.8 Fool's Gold WB 15.0 (4,790) -41% 3125 43.9 Definitely, Maybe Uni 11.6 (5,270) - 2204 14.7 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Uni 10.4 (4,360) -48% 2387 30.6 Juno Fox Searchlight 5.4 (2,900) -20% 1865 124.9 The Bucket List WB 4.5 (1,960) -28% 2307 81.5 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Concert BV 3.9 (5,740) -69% 685 59.1 27 Dresses Fox 3.7 (1,930) -42% 1936 70.5 There Will Be Blood Par Vantage 3.7 (2,610) -24% 1410 31.6 The Eye Lions Gate 3.5 (1,650) -55% 2129 26.7 Rambo Lions Gate 2.3 (1,340) -58% 1702 40.5 No Country for Old Men Miramax 2.2 (2,410) -18% 925 61.3 Untraceable Sony 1.9 (1,400) -53% 1368 27.3 Meet the Spartans Fox 1.8 (1,180) -64% 1532 36.6 Atonement Focus 1.7 (2,210) -31% 784 47.7 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 1.6 (1,850) -43% 850 214.9 Jodhaa Akbar UTV 1.5 (11,530) - 128 1.5 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox 1.3 (1,330) -49% 995 211.6 In Bruges Focus 1.3 (11,390) 119% 112 1.9 Cloverfield Par 1.2 (920) -63% 1266 77.9 Michael Clayton WB 1.1 (2,070) -38% 540 47.7 U2 3D nWave .51 (12,140) -42% 42 3.8 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $156.10 - - - % Change (Last Year) - -13% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 25% - - - Also debuting/expanding Diving Bell and the Butterfly Miramax .41 (2,260) -21% 181 4.9 Persepolis Sony Classics .39 (2,200) -11% 177 2.8 Diary of the Dead Weinstein Co, .27 (6,500) - 42 0.27 2007 Oscar Shorts Magnolia .17 (5,450) - 31 0.17 The Band's Visit Sony Classics .14 (11,500) 58% 7 0.27 Year My Parents Went on Vacation City Lights 88,600 (4,920) - 18 0.09 Tout est parfait Alliance 77,700 (2,990) - 26 0.08 Me & You, Us, Forever Five & Two 68,300 (8,330) - 82 0.07   Domestic Market Share - To February 14, 2008 Domestic Market Share (January 1 - February 14, 2008) Distributor (titles) Gross* Market Share Warner Bros. (11) 225.2 19.20% Fox (7) 184.2 15.70% Buena Vista (7) 157.9 13.40% Paramount (5) 106.4 9.10% Fox Searchlight (3) 96.3 8.20% Sony (8) 91 7.80% Universal (5) 63.8 5.40% Lions Gate (4) 61.6 5.20% Par Vantage (6) 50.4 4.30% Focus (3) 35.4 3.00% Miramax (2) 20.9 1.80% Overture (1) 20.1 1.70% New Line (2) 16.3 1.40% MGM (5) 15.8 1.30% Picturehouse (2) 6.5 0.60% Other * (39) 22.6 1.90% * none greater than 0.5% 1174.4 100.00% Domestic Grossers - To February 14, 2008 Title Distributor Gross Juno * Fox Searchlight 91,538,337 National Treasure: Book of Secrets * BV 80,102,102 Cloverfield Par 76,773,236 The Bucket List * WB 76,232,361 27 Dresses Fox 66,761,871 Alvin and the Chipmunks * Fox 61,187,876 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Concert in 3-D BV 55,127,562 I Am Legend * WB 54,979,314 Rambo Lions Gate 38,199,768 First Sunday Sony 37,627,592 Meet the Spartans Fox 34,776,211 Atonement * Focus 34,761,980 Fool's Gold WB 28,954,687 P.S. I Love You * WB 27,837,545 There Will Be Blood * Par Vantage 27,581,368 Charlie Wilson's War * Uni 27,440,875 One Missed Call WB 26,569,730 Untraceable Sony 25,388,456 Sweeney Todd * Par 23,842,967 The Eye Lions Gate 23,145,696