Q. Why do some movies like 'Brokeback Mountain' have their daily box office stats marked as 'estimate,' while other movies have official totals listed down to the dollar? Is something fishy going on with the reporting of these figures?

Official actual numbers are compiled with the aid of the studios. Brokeback Mountain's distributor, like Capote's and others, does not track movies on a daily basis, so we have to make estimates in their place. The estimates, though, are accurate.

These distributors, which include Focus Features, New Line Cinema and Sony Pictures Classics, either by policy or simply due to lack of resources generally only report Weekend box office and Weekly box office (seven-day tallies representing Friday-through-Thursday).

Estimated daily grosses are revised on Fridays based on the Weekly grosses to ensure greater accuracy.

We strive to report the correct grosses no matter what, and there's no conspiracy to prop up certain movies over others.