Invincible toughed it out to nose past a pair of new films and claim top holiday weekend attraction with an estimated $15.3 million. Debuts of the testosterone thriller Crank and the horror remake The Wicker Man were on its tail with respective grosses of $12.2 million and $11.6 million.

The close of the summer season rang in with a tally of approximately $3.759 billion that represented a 5.8% increase from 2005. And while the figure translated into almost a 2% increase in ticket sales, the season could hardly be considered the rich bounty predicted by industry leaders at ShoWest in March.

Summer 2006 was comparatively weaker to the year’s opening five months that recorded a 9% better record than the preceding year. Exhibition leaders are predicting at best a fall season on par with 2005 and are girding themselves for the prospect of flat admissions when December 31 rolls around.

There was nothing particular noteworthy or revelatory about the Labor Day weekend that totaled roughly $126 million in revenues. It was a 6% improvement on last year, mirroring the seasonal trend. A year ago the bow of Transporter 2 led the frame with a $20.1 million gross and the bow of The Constant Gardener ranked third with an unexpectedly potent $10.1 million.

This year two genre freshmen entries improved upon Transporter 2 by 18%. Considerably brighter was the fourth and fifth ranked Little Miss Sunshine and The Illusionist that each displayed comparable potency to Gardener. There was definitely an industry inkling that Sunshine had potential to gross in excess of $40 million prior to its release but The Illusionist was written off as too esoteric and likely to struggle to $10 million domestically.

The session’s other national debut was Crossover that grossed an OK $4.5 million. Limited releases included a solid debut of $440,000 for the Bollywood entry Lage Raho Munna Bhai; fair returns for the latest Lassie barking up $350,000 and a doltish $150,000 for the aptly titled Idiocracy.

Exclusives included a potent $41,400 box office for the doc expose This Film is Not Yet Rated and a better than likable $16,700 solo tally for Mutual Appreciation. There was also good response for the Chinese Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles of $19,100 from two engagements and Ed Burns’ latest Looking for Kitty eked out $4,300.

Summer bragging rights went to Buena Vista with an overall tally estimated at $786 million and close to 21% of the seasonal marketplace. This year’s scoreboard dramatically reflects just how quick and extreme are the winds of change. Buena Vista and second ranked Sony went from close to the bottom of 2005 summer performers with startling rebounds. With the exception of Universal, all other significant performers experienced box office declines. The addition of DreamWorks to the Paramount portfolio initially gave that studio a boost but DW had a more impressive 2005 record.

The majors truly dominated summer with their primary labels accounting for 88.5% of revenues. Fox Searchlight sat out last summer, so its increase was uncharitable but New Line lacked a Wedding Crashers and Miramx in the post Weinstein era was listless in the absence of Dimension product. The new players are ironically MGM and FreeStyle whose slate includes the Yari Film Group.

Final numbers and an official summer market share will be available later in the week.

– by Leonard Klady

The Summer Chart: May 4 – September 4, 2006

Domestic Market Share: January 1 – August 24, 2006

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