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

March 23, 2008 Weekend Finals Top Limited Grosses Domestic Market Share Easter Lays an Egg... The second weekend of Horton Hears a Who led weekend film going but not as definitively as it had in its debut. The Seussical sophomore session rang up an estimated $25.3 million while the debut of Meet the Browns from niche auteur Tyler Perry was within striking distance at $20.2 million. The Easter weekend (not one of the better holiday viewing periods) also served up indifferent bows for Drillbit Taylor - a contempo, dumbed-down version of 1980s My Bodyguard - of $10.1 million and a predictable $10.7 million for Shutter, a facsimile chiller adapted from the Asian hit produced in Thailand back in 2004. More encouraging was the limited release of Hispanic targeted, Sundance preemed Under the Same Moon that rang up close to a $9,000 average from 266 theaters. Also out of the gate fast was Bollywood entry Race (think Daytona) with $820,000 from 111 exposures. Self-distributed Rockeyesque The Hammer with Adam Carolla as an unlikely pugilist faired well in prelims with a $108,000 tally at 20 rings and there was encouraging response for exclusive runs of the documentary Planet B-Boy and the French-U.S. thriller Boarding Gate. Weekend business continued 2008's fever chart fluctuations with its $110 million plus frame providing a 6% decline from seven days earlier and an 18% erosion with the comparable 2007 frame. It was also 10% off from the 2007 Easter weekend when the second weekend of Blades of Glory led with $22.5 million and the top debut was third ranked Are We Done Yet? with $14.3 million. What's most striking about Easter 2008 is an underlying risk adverse attitude toward programming. Horton had already staked out the family crowd and other distributors were loath to compete … or compete head on. So, competition aimed for very specific niches. Since the theatrical bow of Diary of a Mad Black Woman in 2002, Perry has claimed a spring slot and his latest, Meet the Browns, opened with roughly the same box office force as his earlier movies. That should ultimately translate into a theatrical gross between $50 million and $60 million. We're told that his films are gradually extending their appeal outside the African-American community but that trend has to be glacial based upon the annual consistency of his revenues and one suspects he'll be making some radical changes in the next couple of years. The horror genre is in desperate need of a creative infusion akin to the one seen three decades back when Halloween, Chainsaw and Nightmare changed the landscape. However, for the foreseeable future junior production execs have their marching orders - check out Asian movies for potential remakes, ring-a-ding ding. Also the much touted Apatow comedy factory is discovering that volume is having an untoward effect. Drillbit Taylor (and the earlier, better reviewed Walk Hard) is again high concept but lacks the distinctive, anarchic spin that set the filmmaker's really popular movies apart from the pack. The most compelling question of the weekend was the on-going potential for the American indie Under the Same Moon that created a heart-warming narrative to illustrate the hot button immigration issue. The film has had a peripatetic history that can be traced back to split rights involving Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Co. Notwithstanding it wedged into the top 10 as a result of very strategic screen selection. The film went wide in Mexico where it ranked third with a four-day gross of $1.4 million. The quest for a crossover Hispanic movie has eluded myriad attempts in the past two decades and despite Moon's very good start, it's likely to push the envelope without becoming that breakthrough. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals - March 21-23, 2008 Title Distrib Weekend % Change* Theaters Cume Wks 1 1 Horton Hears a Who Fox 24,590,596 -45% 3961 86,010,517 2 2 New Meet the Browns Lions Gate 20,082,809 - 2006 20,082,809 1 3 New Shutter Fox 10,447,559 - 2753 10,447,559 1 4 New Drillbit Taylor Par 10,309,986 - 3056 10,309,986 1 5 2 10,000 B.C. WB 8,934,064 -47% 3454 76,401,302 3 6 3 Never Back Down Summit 4,827,250 -44% 2729 16,790,361 2 7 4 College Road Trip BV 4,697,683 -40% 2575 32,073,003 3 8 6 The Bank Job Lions Gate 4,191,773 -17% 1613 19,521,672 3 9 5 Vantage Point Sony 3,805,541 -30% 2124 65,300,784 5 10 New Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 2,770,000 - 266 3,496,710 1 11 7 Doomsday Uni 2,249,880 -54% 1938 8,976,710 2 12 9 The Other Boleyn Girl Sony 2,038,236 -29% 1188 22,557,175 4 13 12 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus 1,481,593 -24% 531 7,542,124 3 14 10 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 1,205,418 -48% 1226 67,793,487 6 15 8 Semi-Pro New Line 1,152,569 -62% 1144 32,279,215 4 16 13 Fool's Gold WB 953,068 -43% 1011 67,073,779 7 17 11 Jumper Fox 939,906 -54% 862 77,553,504 6 18 New Race UTV 802,254 96 802,254 1 19 15 Juno Fox Searchlight 769,842 -35% 603 141,099,121 16 20 14 Step Up 2 the Streets BV 541,008 -65% 640 56,715,909 6 21 25 The Counterfeiters Sony Classics 496,625 18% 92 1,851,862 5 22 23 In Bruges Focus 472,762 -3% 216 5,920,566 7 23 18 The Bucket List WB 408,265 -34% 409 90,914,213 13 24 36 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV 390,118 135% 348 217,684,901 14 25 16 Penelope Summit 386,547 -56% 501 9,110,144 4 26 17 Definitely, Maybe Uni 372,330 -46% 378 31,395,755 6 27 24 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox 372,057 -47% 404 215,760,497 15 28 19 Be Kind Rewind New Line 312,963 -47% 264 10,575,239 5 29 28 The Band's Visit Sony Classics 267,209 1% 118 1,919,596 7 30 22 Funny Games WIP 244,110 -55% 289 1,045,279 2 31 26 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3-D BV 212,820 -47% 40 64,547,158 8 32 27 There Will Be Blood Par Vantage 211,636 -39% 224 39,705,413 13 33 29 U2 3D nWave 208,033 -14% 58 6,900,393 7 34 30 27 Dresses Fox 187,901 -20% 244 75,820,494 10 35 35 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 183,860 10% 45 9,485,530 25 36 21 No Country for Old Men Miramax 175,512 -67% 229 74,062,608 20 37 20 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Uni 150,930 -74% 258 42,018,345 7 38 40 Married Life Sony Classics 142,677 45% 32 356,858 3 39 31 I Am Legend WB 114,710 -50% 202 256,227,323 15 40 37 La Ligne brisee Alliance 105,275 -32% 63 603,478 3 41 33 Cloverfield Par 103,488 -45% 205 79,801,225 10 42 New The Hammer Intl Film Circuit 97,137 - 20 97,137 1 43 42 Paranoid Park IFC/Filmoption 94,943 9% 40 283,653 3 44 34 Enchanted BV 88,510 -51% 151 128,173,062 18 45 RE First Sunday Sony 82,350 - 142 38,140,384 11 46 32 The Eye Lions Gate 74,749 -64% 135 31,155,025