Thank You for Smoking was again able to lead the way on the per theatre charts despite expanding from 5 to 54 theatres. In those 54 theatres, the film earned just over $1 million for an average of $18,591. Second place went to the only other film in the $10,000 club and the overall box office leader, The Inside Man, with $10,275.

Just missing the $10,000 mark was The Beauty Academy of Kabul with $9,704, while Lonesome Jim and L'Enfant also performed well with averages of $6,899 and $6,362 respectively. Not so fortunate were Stoned at $2,568 and American Gun at $2,339.

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

• Tsotsi hit $1 million early in the weekend and should make it to $2 million before long.
• As previously stated, Thank You for Smoking earned just over $1 million at the box office this weekend, so it comes as no surprise that it was able to top the $1 million mark in the process. Further expansion, and more milestones, are a certainty at this point.
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada reached $4 million very early midweek and even with a rapidly shrinking weekend haul, it should read $5 million before its run is over.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2006-03-28