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

December 21, 2008 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Top Domestic Releases The Big Chill The battle of the stars pitted debuts of Jim Carrey in the comedic Yes Man against Will Smith in the three-Kleenex yarn Seven Pounds with laughter prevailing. Yes Man emerged from the weekend with an estimated $17.9 million to top the session charts, with Smith’s weighty affair ranking second on box office of $15.2 million. The third national release -- the animated The Tales of Despereaux -- took show spot with $10.4 million. Niche freshmen saw dynamic response of $202,000 for the critical fave The Wrestler in four initial engagements and a good response of $151,000 for Le Grand Depart in Quebec. However other Oscar qualifier runs ranged from poor to dismal, including the acclaimed Italian crime saga Gomorrah grossing $4,500 in a solo flight and the politically charged Nothing But the Truth tallying $3,450 from two venues. All that said, inclement weather in the Northeast and Mid-west took a sizable bite out of movie-going. Blizzard conditions in a number of major markets saw downturns as severe as 90% and in general distribution mavens are estimating the overall impact to be in the neighborhood of a 40% drop in potential revenue. While business is expected to experience a sharp spike as Christmas approaches with such anticipated popular releases as Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories and the family-centric Marley & Me, the striking declines of the past two weeks are also expected to have a severe effect. The mainstream strategy of concentrating ad campaigns for big debuts has placed releases of the past fortnight in jeopardy of not being able to rebound from already crippling commercial traction. Current weekend revenue should top $85 million for a 6% decline from seven days earlier. It’s also down a steep 47% from 2007 when National Treasure: Book of Secrets bowed to $44.8 million and second frames of I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks followed with respective box office of $33.5 million and $28.2 million. Even with industry wisdom of a 40% weather hit, current weekend results would be off 15% from last year. Current year-to-year comparisons now lag behind 2007 by 0.3% Advance ticket sales leading up to this weekend’s start proved poor bellwethers of eventual box office outcome. Both Fandango and MovieTickets.com had Despereaux with the largest percentage of pre-sales with Seven Pounds slightly ahead of Yes Man. Studio trackers nonetheless anticipated Yes Man ranking first with an opening salvo between $25 million and $30 million, Seven Pounds opening closer to $20 million and the animated mouse tale squeaking to $15 million. The strain of the familiar also appeared to provide an edge this weekend with Carrey playing a familiar role while Smith expanded his repertoire. Critics were quick to note the similarity between Yes Man and the actor’s earlier Liar Liar and even in light of diminished grosses exit polling indicated 61% of the audience was 25 years old and younger. Seven Pounds’ audience was 64% in excess of 25 years old and skewed toward women. More telling was the fact that in markets hit hard by Friday snowstorms, Saturday business got a 40% boost while in unaffected areas it declined by 5%. Tossing its hat into the award’s arena, The Wrestler received a resounding thumb’s up in key theaters. Still, odds makers don’t anticipate the gritty tale will factor outside performance categories and one pundit is already predicting that the Oscar best picture category will include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire. Among other current contenders, Doubt and Gran Torino are the sturdiest survivors in slow platform expansions. - Leonard Klady Weekend Finals - December 19-21, 2008 Title Distrib Weekend % Change* Theaters Cume Wks 1 New Yes Man WB 18,262,471 - 3434 18,262,471 1 2 New Seven Pounds Sony 14,851,136 - 2758 14,851,136 1 3 New The Tale of Despereaux Uni 10,103,675 - 3104 10,103,675 1 4 1 The Day the Earth Stood Still Fox 9,890,105 -68% 3560 48,366,989 2 5 2 Four Christmases WB 7,701,375 -41% 3515 100,110,827 4 6 3 Twilight Summit 5,189,319 -35% 2991 158,423,218 5 7 4 Bolt BVI 4,146,856 -44% 2968 94,900,059 5 8 11 Slumdog Millionaire Fox Searchlight 3,053,760 40% 589 12,037,510 6 9 5 Australia Fox 2,174,188 -48% 2212 41,796,525 4 10 6 Quantum of Solace Sony   2,051,882 -45% 1874 161,200,412 6 11 9 Milk Focus 1,729,156 -33% 356 10,410,039 4 12 8 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Par 1,569,610 -51% 2007 172,392,069 7 13 7 Nothing Like the Holidays Overture 1,305,439 -63% 1671 5,924,513 2 14 10 Transporter 3 Lions Gate 682,033 -71% 1007 31,069,389 4 15 19 Doubt Miramax 680,948 34% 39 1,399,548 2 16 13 Role Models Uni 645,395 -58% 792 65,593,985 8 17 12 Cadillac Ranch Sony   606,748 -62% 701 7,046,250 3 18 20 Gran Torino WB 468,221 72% 19 859,860 2 19 17 Frost/Nixon Uni 378,052 -40% 39 1,491,262 3 20 15 Rab Ne Bana di Jodi Yash Raj 326,641 -64% 82 1,431,843 2 21 16 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Miramax 274,481 -60% 403 8,379,440 7 22 23 The Polar Express (reissue) WB 253,852 21% 26 1,118,204 5 23 36 Beverly Hills Chihuahua BV 225,706 218% 315 92,595,594 12 24 New The Wrestler Fox Searchlight 202,714 - 4 288,220 1 25 14 Punisher: War Zone Lions Gate 193,995 -86% 385 7,948,159 3 26 New Le Grand depart Alliance 187,833 - 78 187,833 1 27 22 Rachel Getting Married Sony Classics 130,230 -41% 115 9,785,033 12 28 24 Eagle Eye Par 129,410 -35% 254 100,856,790 13 29 25 Babine Alliance 127,550 -29% 70 1,488,412 4 30 21 Changeling Uni 101,905 -60% 229 35,397,257 9 31 26 The Reader Weinstein Co. 93,790 -45% 8 349,240 2 32 31 I've Loved You So Long Sony Class/Metro 83,284 -19% 52 1,977,504 14 33 43 Vicky Christina Barcelona MGM/Weinstein 72,723 80% 162 22,658,945 19 34 35 Let the Right One In Magnolia 68,656 -10% 53 1,245,880 9 35 New Luis Raul - Chiquito Pero Jugeton Muniz 61,243 -23% 11 165,453 2 36 32 High School Musical 3: Senior Year BV 56,436 -44% 161 89,404,747 9 37 27 Fireproof IDP 56,163 -62% 160 33,063,487 13 38 77 Nights in Rodanthe WB 55,622 628% 204 41,633,345 13 39 30 Synecdoche, New York Sony Classics 53,622 -49% 56 2,547,673 9 40 37 A Christmas Tale IFC 52,393 -15% 48 795,910 6 41 29 The Dark Knight WB 51,743 -54% 157 530,811,565 23 42 28 The Secret Life of Bees Fox Searchlight 49,479 -57% 141 37,320,137 10 43 34 Happy-Go-Lucky Mrmx 44,621 -49% 84 3,101,671 11 44 RE Saw V Lions Gate 42,633 188% 155 56,810,535 9 45 33 Zack and Mira Make a Porno Weinstein Co. 36,307 -64% 87 31,153,007 8 46 44 Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure nWave 31,138 -23% 21 20,161,732 64 47 47 Santa vs. the Snowman (reissue) Imax 29,809 -25% 13 278,451 6 48 45 Chakk de Phatte Punjab 25,323 -44% 7 138,282 3 49 41 Max Payne Fox 24,590 -46% 69 40,632,110 10 50 75 The Haunting of Molly Hartley FreeStyle 24,415 137% 63 13,442,847 8 51 58 My Name is Bruce Image Ent. 22,832 25% 4 218,819 8 52 55 Magnificent Desolation Imax 22,834 17% 4 26,743,068 170 53 39 Lakeview Terrace Sony 21,222 -59% 72 40,135,007 14 54 69 Space Station 3-D Imax 20,842 -35% 2 77,155,526 349 55 42 Igor MGM 18,382 -60% 82 19,420,496 14 56 56 Deep Sea 3-D WB 18,106 -5% 10 37,117,581 147 57 46 Burn After Reading Focus 16,314 -50% 44 60,338,891 15 58 59 Wendy and Lucy Oscilloscope 16,004 -12% 6 50,650 2 Source: MCN/EDI   Estimates - December 19-21, 2008 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Yes Man WB 17.9 (5,220) - 3434 17.9 Seven Pounds Sony 15.2 (5.510) - 2758 15.2 The Tale of Despereaux Uni 10.4 (3.350) - 3104 10.4 The Day the Earth Stood Still Fox 9.4 (2,570) -69% 3560 47.9 Four Christmases WB 7.3 (2,070) -44% 3515 99.7 Twilight Summit 4.9 (1,630) -39% 2991 158.1 Bolt BV 4.2 (1,420) -44% 2968 95 Slumdog Millionaire Fox Searchlight 3.0 (5,060) 37% 589 12 Australia Fox 2.1 (940) -50% 2212 41.7 Quantum of Solace Sony 1.9 (1,000) -50% 1874 161 Milk Focus 1.6 (4,450) -39% 356 10.3 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Par 1.5 (730) -54% 2007 172.3 Nothing Like the Holidays Overture 1.2 (700) -67% 1671 5.8 Doubt Miramax .71 (18,200) 40% 39 1.4 Transporter 3 Lions Gate .65 (650) -72% 1007 31 Cadillac Records Sony .57 (810) -64% 701 7 Role Models Uni .57 (720) -63% 794 65.5 Gran Torino WB .45 (23,840) 66% 19 0.8 Frost/Nixon Uni .35 (9,030) -44% 39 1.5 Rab Ne Bana de Jodi Yash Raj .30 (3,230) -67% 93 1.4 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $83.10 - - - % Change (Last Year) - -47% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -6% - - - Also debuting/expanding The Wrestler Fox Searchlight .20 (50,500) - 4 0.29 Le Grand Depart Alliance .15 (3,350) - 45 0.15 The Reader Weinstein Co. .09 (11,120) -46%- 8 0.35 Gomorrah IFC 4,900 (4,900) - 1 0.01 Nothing But the Truth Yari 3.450 (1,725) - 2 0.01 Moscow, Belgium NeoClassics 2,450 (2,450) - 1 0.01 Adam Resurrected Bleigberg 1,100 (1,100) - 1 0.01 Domestic Market Share - To December 18, 2008 Distributor (releases) Gross Mrkt Share Warner Bros. (28) 1679.6 18.40% Paramount (16) 1520.6 16.60% Sony (25) 1223.5 13.40% Universal (21) 1076.4 11.80% Buena Vista (17) 939.4 10.30% Fox (23) 907.4 9.90% Lions Gate (20) 424.8 4.60% Summit (5) 208.9 2.30% Fox Searchlight (8) 200.2 2.20% Focus (7) 133.9 1.50% MGM (16) 119.4 1.30% Overture (7) 100.3 1.10% Paramount Vantage (11) 86.8 .90% Miramax (10) 69.9 0.70% Picturehouse (7) 63.3 0.70% New Line (4) 61.8 0.70% Other * (318) 328.9 3.60% * none greater than 0.5% 9145.1 100.00%