Nothing Comes Before Hereafter on the Per Theater Chart

October 19, 2010

Clint Eastwood's latest film, Hereafter, topped the per theater chart over the weekend with an impressive average of $36,720 in six theaters. It expands wide on Friday, so this fast start was important. The overall box office leader, Jackass 3D, was well back in second place with an average of $16,343, but that's amazing for this type of movie and this time of year. Vision managed $11,406 in its lone theater, while Carlos opened with an average of $10,003 in two theaters, which is literally one ticket away from missing the $10,000 mark.

Of the new limited releases, Conviction came the closest to the $10,000 mark with an average of $9,305. That might be enough to help the film expand enough to earn some measure of mainstream success, but I think it will have to earn more Awards Season Buzz for that to happen. The Salvation Poem was way back at $3,430, while N-Secure was the only other new release to top the Mendoza Line with $2,400, but at least it was playing in nearly 500 theaters giving it more than $1 million over the weekend.

The Trouble with Terkel was not so lucky with an average of $1,986 in two theaters. Down Terrace was even further down the list at $1,544. Carmo wasn't even able to reach $1000 on the per theater chart with just $835 in its lone theater. Finally we get to the ironically named, I Want Your Money, which really could have used a whole lot more. That film opened in more than 500 theaters, but earned just shy of $250,000 for an average of $464. It may have cost more to ship the prints to theaters than the studio's share of its opening weekend box office. And next weekend, it will likely vanish. On the other hand, Conservatives will likely win the prize in a couple of weeks, control of the House of Representatives.

This past week also saw milestones reached for a few Per Theater Charts alumni:

• N-Secure earned more than $1 million during its opening weekend, so obviously its running tally has crossed $1 million.
• You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger made it to $1 million very early in the weekend and should get to $2 million before too long, but that might be it.
• Waiting for Superman got to $2 million over the weekend and it is already more than halfway to $3 million.
• It's Kind of a Funny Story has now reached $4 million, but next weekend it could see a very substantial drop in its theater count, so getting much further than $5 million will be very difficult.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, Poema de Salvación, Down Terrace, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Waiting for Superman, Conviction, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Carlos, Carmo, I Want Your Money, , Hereafter, Jackass 3D, N-Secure, Vision