Sunshine opened stronger than expected at the weekend, earning close to $250,000 in 10 theaters for an average of $24,296. This is more than enough to justify expanding over the coming weeks, but a wide release is still not guaranteed. The only other film to top $10,000 on the per theater chart was Partner with $10,073.

There were no other limited releases that even came close to that level. Falling for Grace came the closest with $3,614 in one theater while Goya's Ghosts' average was $3,259. David & Layla opened with $2,070 in 7 theaters and Cashback took in $1,653 in 9. Finally, Summercamp! opened with $1,400 in its lone theater.

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

• Rescue Dawn crossed $1 million over the weekend and will have no trouble expanding further while hitting more milestones. On the other hand, matching its $10 million production budget will be tough.
• You Kill Me reached $2 million over the weekend, barely, and will likely shed theaters very quickly now.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2007-07-24