The top of the per theater chart looks strikingly similar to last week with two holdovers being the only two films to top $10,000. This week Appaloosa squeaked ahead of The Duchess $10,469 to $10,238. However, the latter also saw its theater count explode from 7 to 55, which explains its declining average.

The only new release that did respectable business was Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story with an average of $5,470 in 2 theaters. Humboldt County and Choke were neck-and-neck with averages of $2,881 and $2,849 respectively. There were some who thought Choke would be a sleeper hit, but that's not going to happen now. The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela missed the Mendoza Line with $1,350, but that was still a massive hit compared to the rest of the new releases. There were four other new releases we have numbers for, and all of them opened with an average of less than $1,000. The best of these were All Roads Lead Home with just $687, while Whaledreamers earned an average of $449, The Lucky Ones managed just $431, and Shoot on Sight rounded out the group with $417.

The only film to reach a milestone this past weekend was Vicky Cristina Barcelona, as the film hit $20 million over the weekend. This is the only the second Woody Allen movie to reach that mark in the past two decades, and only his sixth in total.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2008-10-01