Dreamgirls fell 40% during the second weekend of its road tour, but it still earned an incredible $228,000 in three theaters for an average of $75,879. There were three other films to crack $10,000, all of them new releases. Leading this pack was Letters from Iwo Jima with just under $90,000 in 5 theaters for an average of $17,819. This is a better start than expected after the disappointing run by Flags of Our Fathers and if it earns a few more nominations, it could expand wide later on. Another Oscar hopeful, The Painted Veil, placed third with an average of $12,771. Finally there was Venus, which started its run with $35,000 in 3 theaters for an average of $11,868.

There were only two other new releases this week: Curse of the Golden Flower with close to $500,000 in 60 theaters for an average of $7,980 and Words of My Perfect Teacher with just $2,300 in 3 theaters for an average of $767.

This past week also saw milestones reached for a couple Per Theater Chart alumni:

• The History Boys made it to $1 million over the weekend. Despite a strong opening, the film was never able to expand and will begin to shed theaters quite quickly.
• Volver also ran into problems as it tried to expand, but that didn't stop it from reaching $3 million late in the midweek while it is now nearly halfway to $4 million.
• Facing the Giants reached its final milestone last week, topping $10 million. That's an amazing run for a film that reportedly only cost $100,000 to make.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2006-12-28