Stomping the competition

This weekend's top attraction at theaters and drive-ins everywhere: Another film aimed primarily at what's euphemistically known the "urban audience," fortuitously timed for the MLK holiday. The money quote from the Associated Press report: "'Sony picked a great weekend to release the film,'" said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. 'The urban audience wields a lot of clout at the box office. If you put a film in the marketplace that has that built-in appeal to that audience, look at the numbers. The numbers speak for themselves.'"

Weekend b.o. blues?

From the Associated Press, good news and bad news about the weekend b.o. figures:

"Overall business was off, with the top 12 movies taking in $112.3 million, down 8.3 percent compared to the same weekend last year, when two blockbusters — King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — were Nos. 1 and 2.

"This weekend's holdover films retained strong audiences, though, a sign that many current movies may have a long shelf life, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

"'It's hard to say this is a positive thing that this is a down weekend. But the strength of this weekend has been the holdovers,' Dergarabedian said. 'There is a lot of depth to the marketplace. It's a direct reflection of audience satisfaction. That's more important I think than beating last year's competition.'"

Well, maybe. One thing is certain: As Leonard Klady notes, it was another great weekend for Will Smith.