Weekend Finals
Domestic Market Share

Blades of Glory figured an impressive estimated $33.1 million to take the gold in weekend box office viewing. There was also good news for the animated Meet the Robinsons that ranked second with $25.7 million but eyes were elsewhere for The Lookout. Additionally the stealth reissue of Peaceful Warrior had the industry buzzing and limited bows for both Danish Oscar nominee After the Wedding and 25 year old Killer of Sheep posted strong bows.

Icy antics melted the ice for Blades of Glory, the outrageous comedy teaming Will Ferrell and Jon Hederas improbable pairs skaters. The film was largely propelled by young males and saw a slight 1% dip in the transition from opening day to Saturday business. Nonetheless the opening salvo minimally suggests an $80 million domestic gross and more if it can replicate the stamina of Talladega Nights.

Robinsons tapped into the family audience effectively with 615 engagements bolstered by 3-D versions of the hijinx. Disney had an incomplete breakdown of 2-D versus 3-D strength but anticipate the latter will demonstrate at least double the overall screen average of roughly $7,500. The film also bowed day and date in a number of major international territories including England where it grossed approximately $1 million. However, generally it was an uneven translation with just Mexico giving it top ranking on a 400k box office.

Last week’s sextet of freshmen mostly got clobbered in their second weekends with four posting 60% declines and only Shooter off by less than 50%. 300 and Wild Hogs once again proved to be the most resilient continuing titles in the marketplace.

Overall ticket sales should come up slightly shy of $130 million to translate into 6% slippage from seven days earlier. The downturn was a marginally steeper 9% placed beside 2006 when the launch of Ice Age: The Meltdown was an easier winner with a $68 million box office and counter-programmer ATL bowed in third spot with $11.5 million.

The two most intriguing elements of the weekend ranked further down the charts. Peaceful Warrior, an inspirational saga with an amateur athletics backdrop, flew under the radar which is rather unusual for a picture estimating a $2 million gross. Originally released in June 2006 by Lionsgate, the film was reacquired by Universal that created a stealth campaign with the Best Buy circuit offering free tickets and promotional coin.

Very little was spent in conventional advertising, so the commercial result will definitely get the industry’s attention. (Last year’s limited release ultimately generated a $1.1 million box office). However, while there’s bound to be future experiments along these lines, there aren’t many obvious candidates suitable for this type of re-exposure especially considering the usual quick transition to video shelves.

The other unusual item is the less positive $1.9 gross for the critically embraced noir thriller The Lookout.The picture received superlative reviews that nonetheless translated into a near frigid $2,000 engagement average. It demonstrates the conundrum faced by studio specialized divisions torn between slow rollouts and more aggressive debuts that aim to bring in a broader audience and fail to initially target a picture’s core appeal crowd. When the strategy fails, it’s virtually impossible to regroup in the current sated environment.

In niche and exclusive play there wasn’t much encouragement for American indies Live Free or Die or Race You to the Bottom. However, the acclaimed After the Wedding from Denmark was off to a good start with $43,500 box office from five engagements. Even more unusual was the first U.S. theatrical engagements forKiller of Sheep that dates back to the early 1980s and has already been installed in the Library of Congress’s annual list of 25 films of distinction. Having done the first review from the Berlin Film Festival in 1981 (very favorably) the opening provides a late personal vindication. The picture was held up largely by distribution’s indifference to clearing Sheep’s musical rights that only recently became a passionate pursuit for Milestone Film.

– Leonard Klady

Weekend Finals – March 30 – April 1, 2007

Estimates – March 30 – April 1, 2007

Domestc Grosses – Jan 1 – March 29, 2007

Domestic Market Share: Jan 1 – March 22, 2007