Changeling's weaker than expected reviews didn't hurt it at the box office, at least not its opening weekend. The film topped the per theater chart with an impressive average of $32,601 in 15 theaters. Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom placed a close second with a surprisingly strong average of $30,336 in five theaters. Synecdoche, New York also opened better than expected despite weaker than expected reviews with an average of $19,133 in nine theaters. Let the Right One In did something no horror film has been able to do in a while: survive in limited release. It opened in four theaters with nearly $50,000 for an average of $12,324. Now all it has to do is maintain this momentum as it expands. The final film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, High School Musical 3, which opened with an average of $11,601 in saturation release.

There were plenty of other new releases this weekend with Live Fast, Die Young finishing just inches away from the $10,000 mark with $9,841 in its lone theater. I've Loved You So Long opened in the United States after debuting in Canada last month and earned an average of $8,023 in nine theaters. Fears of the Dark and Heroes were the only other new releases to perform well with $6,103 in its one theater and $5,440 in 60, respectively. Stranded opened with $3,077 in one theater. Finally, both Roadside Romeo at $1,440 and Passengers at $1,380 opened below the Mendoza line.

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

• Passchendaele added more than $650,000 in just over 200 theaters for an average of $3,201. It has made more than $2 million already, which is huge for a Canadian film.
• Rachel Getting Married again had the best weekend in its run so far as it crossed $2 million early over the weekend. It will have no trouble getting to $3 million before next weekend.
• Religulous made it all the way to $10 million, which is more than original expectations.
• The Duchess also reached $10 million, but it has a better shot at $15 million, although not a great shot.
• Finally, Appaloosa reached $15 million since last week, but that is likely as far as it will go.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2008-10-28