..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

April 6, 2008 Weekend Finals Top Global Grosses Domestic Market Share Leathertails ... Oops! The thrill of victory eluded the debut of Leatherheads as its estimated $13.4 million weekend trailed the $15.4 million sophomore session of 21. The frame's other freshmen releases also opened on the dull side with the family friendly Nim's Island grossing $13.2 million and the horror entry The Ruins bowing to $7.6 million. In the continuing movie going slump the Stones rolled but didn't rock with the limited release concert film Shine a Light tallying $1.4 million. Other specialized newbies included two from last year's Cannes festival receiving some initial traction. The Noah Jones starrer My Blueberry Nights had a tuneful $68,300 at six venues while The Flight of the Red Balloon sailed to $34,900 in two exclusives. There was also good response of $23,300 from three screens for the Israeli import Jellyfish but American indies Meet Bill and Sex and Death 100 were commercially D.O.A. Overall business experienced another significant decline, ebbing 9% for the immediate prior weekend. Measured against 2007 box office sank by 25%. Last year's premiere pictures were also dull including Are We Done Yet? with $14.3 million and Grindhouse cranking out $11.6 million while the second weekend of Blades of Glory led with a $22.5 million frame. After a fast start with double-digit box office increases from 2007, the past month has seen steadily decreasing revenues. The current weak weekend finally did the trick and the year has dipped below last year's pace by 1.5% The long-gestating Leatherheads lost its vintage as it came short of goal posts set somewhere between $15 million and $20 million. The saga of the early years of the NFL evolved from a comedy of social conscience a la Slap Shot into more knockabout fare in hopes of extending beyond adult viewers. The strategy failed both commercially and with the country's critical community. While Leatherheads did a media blitz, the session's other freshmen appeared content to wage generic campaigns aimed at the obvious suspects. The box office results for both Nim's Island and The Ruins were at top spin "respectable" but as the old guru has often observed: since when has the film industry been about breaking even? All things considered, the second weekend for the card counting intrigue of 21 was sturdy with business at 64% of its premiere performance but the brunt of hold over titles experienced drops generally between 45% and 50%. The sixth Stone - Martin Scorsese - opened his lens on Jagger, Richards, et al with Shine a Light and scored best from 93 large format engagements. Those venues accounted for 34% of the playdates but 79% of the box office. It's easy to understand why the industry remains keen on such enhancement as Imax and 3-D and, preferably, both. However, the added costs of digital conversion in the current recessionary climate have created fits and bursts in such growth. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - April 4-6, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume 21 Sony 15.4 (5,790) -36% 2653 46.8 Leatherheads Uni 13.4 (4,850) - 2769 13.4 Nim's Island Fox 13.2 (3,770) - 3513 13.2 Horton Hears a Who Fox 9.2 (2,570) -48% 3571 131.1 The Ruins Par 7.6 (2,690) - 2812 7.6 Superhero Movie MGM 5.3 (1,790) -44% 2965 16.8 Drillbit Taylor Par 3.4 (1,250) -41% 2707 25.5 Meet the Browns Lions Gate 3.3 (2,100) -56% 1554 37.5 Shutter Fox 2.9 (1,350) -45% 2125 23.2 10,000 B.C. WB 2.7 (1,170) -45% 2335 89.3 Stop-Loss Par 2.2 (1,720) -51% 1291 8.1 The Bank Job  Lions Gate 1.7 (1,400) -40% 1189 26.7 Under the Same Moon Weinstein Co. 1.6 (3,670) -28% 437 8.8 College Road Trip BV 1.6 (960) -53% 1705 40.9 Shine a Light Par Vantage 1.4 (5,180) 276 1.4 Run Fat Boy Run Picturehouse 1.4 (1,230) -41% 1115 4.4 Vantage Point Sony 1.1 (990) -51% 1128 71.1 Never Back Down Summit 1.1 (900) -54% 1209 23 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Focus .72 (1,430) -38% 503 10.5 The Other Boleyn Girl Sony .58 (820) -54% 706 26 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $98.50 - - - % Change (Last Year) - -25% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -9% - - - Also debuting/expanding The Counterfeiters Sony Classics .38 (3,130) 3% 123 2.9 My Blueberry Nights Weinstein Co. 68,300 (11,380) - 6 0.06 Flight of the Red Balloon IFC 34,900 (17,450) - 2 0.03 Meet Bill First Look 30,500 (850) - 36 0.03 Jellyfish Zeitgeist 22,300 (7,430) - 3 0.01 Sex and Death 101 Anchor Bay 14,100 (2,820) - 5 0.01 Water Lilies Koch Lorber 3,400 (3,400) - 1 0.01 Global Grossers - To March 30, 2008 Title  Distributor Gross I Am Legend WB 270,214,778 National Treasure: Book of Secrets BVI 258,452,003 10,000 B.C. WB 230,668,896 Jumper Fox 198,747,514 Horton Hears a Who Fox 197,609,863 Juno Fox/Mandate 185,142,982 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox 168,679,687 Cloverfield Paramount 157,903,442 Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis Pathe 157,314,114 The Bucket List WB 148,939,032 27 Dresses Fox/Spyglass 134,783,157 Asterix aux jeux Olympiques Pathe 130,521,428 Vantage Point Sony 126,507,378 The Spiderwick Chronicles Paramount 118,422,878 Sweeney Todd Paramount/WB 125,045,246 Step Up 2 BV/Summit 110,504,896 No Country for Old Men Miramax/Para 110,232,834 P.S. I Love You WB/Summit 109,635,887 Enchanted BV 107,450,510 The Golden Compass New Line 106,921,784 Rambo Lions Gate/NuImage 103,202,282 * does not include 2007 box office   Domestic Market Share - To March 27, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share Fox (9) 419.8 18.70% Warner Bros. (12) 371.9 16.50% Buena Vista (8) 265.4 11.80% Sony (11) 223.6 9.90% Paramount (7) 206.2 9.20% Lions Gate (7) 137.9 6.10% Universal (6) 127.2 5.70% Fox Searchlight (3) 119.2 5.30% Par Vantage (6) 64.4 2.90% New Line (4) 61.3 2.70% Focus (4) 56.1 2.50% Miramax (3) 38 1.70% MGM (7) 31.9 1.40% Summit (2) 31.6 1.40% Overture (2) 20.8 0.90% Other * (88) 73.7 3.30% * none greater than 0.45% 2249 100.00% Top Domestic Grossers - To March 27, 2008 Title Distributor Gross Juno * Fox Searchlight 113,564,674 Horton Hears a Who Fox 99,849,148 The Bucket List * WB 90,378,651 National Treasure: Book of Secrets * BV 84,668,814 10,000 B.C.  WB 80,045,351 Cloverfield Par 79,868,530 Jumper Fox 77,984,874 27 Dresses Fox 75,941,603 Alvin and the Chipmunks * Fox 68,973,565 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 68,646,009 Fool's Gold WB 67,524,778 Vantage Point Sony 66,948,480 Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Concert in 3-D BV 64,547,158 Step Up 2: The Streets BV 57,001,753 I Am Legend * WB 56,933,914 Rambo Lions Gate 42,754,105 Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins Uni 42,093,210 Atonement * Focus 39,617,946 There Will Be Blood * Par Vantage 39,438,070 First Sunday Sony 38,182,387