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

April 12, 2009 Weekend Finals Domestic Market Share Hannalujah! The great Easter egg hunt delivered record breaking numbers with Hannah Montana: The Movie leading the charge with an estimated $34.3 million. The holiday session also included two other national debuts. Anti-Paul Blart: Mall Cop Observe and Report ranked fourth overall with a middling $11.1 million while the live-action manga adaptation Dragonball: Evolution eked out $4.6 million. Limited freshmen releases ranged from passable to poor. The Punjabi Mera Mera Ki Rishta was among the buoyant with close to $100,000 at 16 sites while on the flip side, the Sundance-preemed big screen version of author Michael Chabon’s The Mysteries of Pittsburgh generated a listless $34,500 from 18 venues. Overall box office pushed close to $140 million to better past Easter frames by 8% though admissions lagged behind. The nation’s trio of movie tracking companies made predictions that were again unanimous … and wrong with estimates for Hannah Montana that ranged from the high teens to the low 20s. Last week they were shy roughly $20 million on expectations for Fast & Furious and put the lie to the theory that competition would improve methodologies from the terrible days of market research monopoly. It’s a situation that wouldn’t be tolerated in political polling but in the film industry this long tradition tends to get a shrug as a response. The trackers were also a tad high on Observe and Report, so anticipation was that the two debutants would be more competitive as well as poor seconds to both F & F and Monsters vs. Aliens. Both advance ticketing outlets showed Hannah selling in excess of 50% of their sales and should either create a viable template that translates pre-buys to box office, a more viable box office barometer could be in the offing. The weekend tally dipped back by 11% from last weekend’s Fast salvo but exceeded the 2008 total by 50%. It was however 25% improved from Easter weekend 2008 when the second weekend of Horton Hears a Who outpaced the bow of Meet the Browns with respective grosses of $24.6 million and $20.1 million. The alternative arena continues to be lean and sparse with just Sunshine Cleaning and Sin Nombre -- which had its first significant expansion this weekend -- propping up a significantly more exploitable viewing segment than is currently being tapped. - Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - April 10-12, 2009 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change * Theaters Cume Hannah Montana: The Movie BV 34.3 (11,010) - 3118 34.3 Fast & Furious Uni 28.7 (8,270) -60% 3472 118 Monsters vs. Aliens Par 22.5 (5,450) -31% 4136 140.9 Observe and Report WB 11.1 (4,060) - 2727 11.1 I Love You Man Par 6.5 (2,440) -17% 2643 59 Knowing Summit 6.4 (2,180) -22% 2925 67.7 The Haunting in Connecticut Lions Gate 5.7 (2,090) -40% 2721 46.3 Dragonball Evolution Fox 4.6 (2,120) - 2181 4.6 Adventureland Miramax 3.4 (1,820) -40% 1876 11.4 Duplicity Uni 3.0 (1,510) -28% 1965 36.8 Race to Witch Mountain BV 1.9 (890) -40% 2172 62 Sunshine Cleaning Overture 1.8 (2,960) -2% 598 7.2 Taken Fox 1.1 (1,250) -29% 872 141.1 12 Rounds Fox .78 (860) -65% 908 10.7 Watchmen WB .57 (1,260) -47% 453 106.4 Last House on the Left Uni .54 (870) -56% 623 31.7 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony .51 (1,240) 37% 411 144.7 Sin Nombre Focus .33 (5,050) 79% 65 0.81 Under the Sea 3D WB .32 (7,440) 25% 43 5.4 Slumdog Millionaire Fox Searchlight .27 (890) -46% 304 140.7 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - $133.40 - - - % Change (Last Year) - 50% - - - % Change (Last Week) - -11% - - - Also debuting/expanding Tera Mera ki Rishta Bollyada 98,300 (6,140) - 16 0.1 Anvil! The Story of Anvil Abramorama 36,100 (7,220) 261% 5 0.05 The Mysteries of Pittsburgh Peace Arch 34,500 (1,920) - 18 0.03 Lymelife Screen Media 28,100 (7,020) - 4 0.03 Adrift in Tokyo Evokative 6,300 (6,300) - 1 0.01 In a Dream Intl Film Circuit 5,400 (5,400) - 1 0.01 Empty Nest Outlander 4,600 (2,300) - 2 0.01   Top Domestic Grossers - January 1 - April 5, 2009 Title Distributor (releases) Gross (millions) Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony 143,162,362 Gran Torino * WB 140,355,806 Taken Fox 139,416,323 Slumdog Millionaire * Fox Searchlight 118,017,360 Watchmen WB 105,346,566 Monsters vs. Aliens Par 104,799,387 He's Just Not That Into You WB 92,901,114 Madea Goes to Jail Lionsgate 89,869,224 Curious Case of Benjamin Button * Par 74,561,249 Coraline Focus 74,255,387 Hotel for Dogs Par 71,651,821 Fast & Furious Uni 70,950,500 Marley and Me * Fox 70,640,439 Friday the 13th WB 64,877,692 Bride Wars Fox 58,570,609 Race to Witch Mountain BV 58,249,111 Knowing Summit 58,219,770 Bedtime Stories * BV 54,991,653 My Bloody Valentine 3D Lionsgate 51,700,492 I Love You, Man Par 49,159,559 * does not include 2008 box office