EXPANSIONS
On the expansion front this weekend Lions Gate Films' R rated drama Monster's Ball went wider in its 14th week following Halle Berry's Best Actress Oscar victory with an OK ESTIMATED $2.03 million at 676 theaters (+133 theaters; $2,995 per theater). Its cume is approximately $22.9 million.
Directed by Marc Forster, it stars Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger and Peter Boyle.
USA Films' R rated romantic comedy Monsoon Wedding added theaters in its sixth week with a still spicy ESTIMATED $0.78 million (+4%) at 140 theaters (+12 theaters; $5,560 per theater). Its cume is approximately $4.3 million.
Directed by Mira Nair, it was produced by Nair and Caroline Baron.
Fox Searchlight Pictures' R rated romantic comedy Kissing Jessica Stein expanded in its third week to a still arousing ESTIMATED $0.71 million (+39%) at 131 theaters (+65 theaters; $5,420 per theater). Its cume is approximately $2.0 million.
Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, it stars Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen.
"We're very pleased," Fox Searchlight distribution president Stephen Gilula said Sunday morning. "We expanded into many more regional markets this week with a lot of good results. We're pleased with how it's playing. It's variable. It obviously is better in some [markets] than others. We're expanding again next week to more than 300 theaters. We're looking forward to a good long and smooth run."
In the greater New York area, Gilula added, "the film is very, very strong. That's where it was made. The suburban runs in New York are quite strong. We expanded last Friday into the greater metropolitan area around New York City in a lot of suburban areas around New York in northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut with very good results."
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films--those grossing more than $500,000--took in approximately $126.25 million, up about 37.14 percent from last year when they totaled $92.06 million. Last year Easter weekend was Apr. 13-15 when key films took in $85.3 million, putting this Easter 48.01% ahead of last year.
Key films this weekend were down a modest 2.26 percent from the previous weekend of this year's total of $129.17 million.
Last year, Dimension Films' opening week of Spy Kids was first with $26.55 million at 3,104 theaters ($8,552 per theater); and 20th Century Fox's opening week of Someone Like You was second with $10.01 million at 2,345 theaters ($4,269 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $36.5 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $48.8 million.