Weekend Box Office Preview
July 30, 2004

Four pics vie for big August bows

By VARIETY STAFF

AUGUST BLOWOUT
Last August, the month's average wide bow had doubled compared with five years ago, thanks to such hits as "S.W.A.T.," "Freddy vs. Jason" and "American Wedding." Today, four wide releases will begin fueling the summer box office's final month.
AVERAGE AUGUST WIDE OPENER*
7.5				16.0
1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
*in millions of $

BOWING
Movie Title		Engagements
The Village (BV)		3,730
The Manchurian Candidate (Par)		2,867
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (New Line)		2,135
Thunderbirds (U)		2,057
She Hate Me (Sony Classics)* NY, LA		11
Garden State (Fox Searchlight)* NY, LA		9
Intimate Strangers (Par Classics) NY, LA		5
Proteus (Strand) NY		2
Transfixed (Picture This) NY		1
Gozu (Picture This) NY		1

YEAR TO DATE
(in billions of $)
5.1 '03 (thru July 27)	5.4 +6% '04 (thru July 25)

	1. The Village 2. The Bourne Supremacy 3. Manchurian Candidate 4. Harold & Kumar 5. I, Robot	AOL Moviefone derives its Top Five Most Requested films from activity on its Web site. The Top Five have historically been 80% accurate in predicting the weekend's top five movies at the box office.
Visit Moviefone	View opening films

RELEASE DATES AND CHANGES
As of July 15
Movie Title	New date	Old date
FOCUS FEATURES
Shaun of the Dead	Sept. 24	Sept. 17
INDICAN
L.A. Twister	Aug. 13	Aug.
Face	Oct.	Aug.
LIONS GATE
Saw	Oct. 1	Sept. 17
MGM
The Woods	Sept. 2 '05	Oct. 1
MIRAMAX
Cursed	Feb. 25	Oct. 1
Sin City	April 1
NEW LINE
Cellular	Sept. 10	Sept. 17
Birth	Nov. 5	Fall
UNIVERSAL
American Gangster	Nov. 4 '05	June 3 '05
WARNER BROS
...The Phantom of the Opera	Dec. 25	Dec.
WELLSPRING
Goodbye Dragon Inn	Sept. 17	Nov.
In The Realms of the Unreal	Dec. 22
Red indicates new entry Source: ACNielsen EDI FilmSource