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

May 18, 2008 Weekend Estiamtes Domestic Market Share Top Global Grossers Caspian Sees Wave ... The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian crested with an estimated $56.7 million to rank as the weekend’s top movie attraction. The anticipated commercial potency of the franchise had competitors large and small avoiding a head on and giving the youth appeal adventure a clear shot among debuting national releases. Debuting niche and regional newcomers were eclectic including an 84 print launch for the Hispanic targeted How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer that barely managed to generate a $1,000 per engagement average. In QuebecLa Piege Americain had a passable $980,000 box office at 44 venues and the Bollywood entry Jannat was soft with a $26,600 tally from 17 outlets. Exclusives proved more potent with the Norweigan import Reprise grossing $46,500 from three playdates and Mexico’s Sangre de mi Sangre generating $8,500 from a single screen. Despite a strong bow for Prince Caspian, its box office was dwarfed by last year’s $121.6 million preem of Shrek the Third and that translated into a significant overall box office drop. The second installment of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia screen adaptations entered the marketplace with high expectations with some industry trackers predicting out-sized figures of between $85 million and $90 million that say more about methodology than results. More level heads anticipated a $65 million opening comparable to the first episode’s gross in December 2005. While there’s an argument to be made that the film’s debut was disappointing in light of expectations, the strategic placement in the summer schedule could well pay off in the coming weeks. The teens and tweens that account for the series core appeal are still largely in school - roughly 85% - but that number will drop to less than 50% by June and next weekend’s Memorial holiday 4-day could generate comparable returns. Internationally Prince Caspian launched in 12 countries including Mexico where it grossed $5.2 million of an estimated $20.7 million aggregate. It also bowed in Korea and Russia and secondary markets largely in Asia. Buena Vista International president Mark Zoradi noted that the film debuted 27% higher overall in those initial territories. Holdovers generally experienced 30% to 40% drops with more severe erosion for the likes of Speed Racer and Redbelt. With a string of high profile movies in the wings the marketplace experienced considerable thinning among national releases with a mere 11 grossing in excess of $500,000 for the frame. Weekend box office was inching toward $130 million for a modest 4% boost from seven days earlier. As noted 2007’s Shrek 3 was impossible to top and grosses overall fell 29% by comparison. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - May 16-18, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % chng Theas Cume Prince Caspian BV 56.7 (14,420) 3929 56.7 Iron Man Par 31.0 (7,460) -39% 4154 222.3 What Happens in Vegas Fox 13.9 (4,270) -31% 3255 40.4 Speed Racer WB 7.7 (2,140) -58% 3606 29.9 Made of Honor Sony 4.6 (1,620) -44% 2816 33.8 Baby Mama Uni 4.5 (1,810) -27% 2503 47.2 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni 2.6 (1,610) -33% 1601 55.1 Harold & Kumar 2 WB 1.8 (1,300) -41% 1403 33.9 Forbidden Kingdom Lions Gate 1.0 (980) -55% 997 50.3 The Visitor Overture .67 (2,990) -8% 224 3.4 Nim's Island Fox .53 (590) -64% 894 45.2 Prom Night Sony/Alliance .45 (790) -56% 567 43.5 Then She Found Me Thinkfilm/TVA .39 (3,120) -17% 125 1.4 21 Sony .38 (860) -55% 444 81.1 Young@Heart Fox Searchlight .34 (2,010) -12% 170 1.9 Redbelt Sony Classics .33 (350) -68% 932 1.9 Horton Hears a Who Fox .32 (770) -48% 415 151.2 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $125.00 - - - % Change (Last Year) - -29% - - - % Change (Last Week) - 4% - - - Also debuting/expanding Son of Rambow Par Vantage .23 (2,550) 51% 91 0.52 La Piege Americain Alliance .1 (2,250) - 44 0.1 How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer Alliance 84,300 (1,040) - 84 0.08 Reprise Miramax 46,500 (15,500) - 3 0.05 Jannat Shemaroo 26,600 (1,570) - 17 0.03 Sangre de mi Sangre IFC 8,500 (8,500) - 1 0.01 Yella Cinema Guild 6,900 (3,450) - 2 0.01 Edge of Heaven * - - - - - Domestic Market Share - To May 15, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Market Share Fox (12) 532.1 17.20% Warner Bros. (14) 437.7 14.10% Paramount (9) 431.1 13.90% Sony (14) 363.5 11.70% Buena Vista (8) 272.2 8.80% Universal (9) 254.1 8.20% Lions Gate (8) 199.9 6.40% Fox Searchlight (5) 147.9 4.80% Par Vantage (8) 69.9 2.30% New Line (4) 61.8 2.00% Focus (4) 59.6 1.90% Miramax (4) 47.3 1.50% MGM (9) 46.1 1.50% Summit (2) 34.7 1.10% Overture (3) 23.5 0.80% Other * (133) 118.1 3.80% * none greater than 0.55% 3099.5 100.00% Top Global Grossers - To May 15, 2008 Title Distributor Gross Iron Man Par 381,951,713 Horton Hears a Who Fox 289,915,034 10,000 B.C.  WB 267,200,300 I Am Legend * WB 250,954,579 Jumper Fox 211,531,632 Juno * Fox/Mandate 199,452,286 Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis Pathe 198,054,681 Cloverfield Par 169,710,890 National Treasure: Book of Secrets * BV 168,113,955 The Bucket List WB 163,026,520 Alvin and the Chipmunks * Fox 162,328,406 The Spiderwick Chronicles Par 160,593,212 27 Dresses Fox/Spyglass 153,852,373 Vantage Point Sony 151,162,895 Step Up 2: The Streets BV/Summit 143,673,250 Asterix aux jeux Olympiques Pathe 131,462,687 Sweeney Todd * Par/WB 126,172,473 21 Sony 122,671,389 P.S. I Love You * WB/Summit 117,099,782 No Country for Old Men * Miramax/Par Intl 116,882,361 Fool's Gold WB 105,932,915 Enchanted * BV 105,273,924 Rambo Lions Gate/NuImage 104,753,184 The Forbidden Kingdom Lions Gate/Weinstein 97,146,975 The Golden Compass * NLC 93,863,603 * does not include 2007 box office