Avatar Repeats its Win on the Per Theater Chart

December 29, 2009

As it did on the overall chart, Avatar led the way on the per theater chart, earning an average of $21,880. Second place went to the overall second place film, Sherlock Holmes, which pulled in an average of $18,031. 3 Idiots did something most Bollywood films don't manage to do, namely top $10,000 on the per theater chart. Additionally, it was a wider release than most of its compadres, which makes this opening even more impressive. Crazy Heart expanded somewhat, but still remained strong with an average of $13,321 and this makes hitting milestones much more likely. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel was the third wide release to crack $10,000 with an average of $13,210. Finally we get to Lovely Bones, which is down to an estimated average of $12,667. This is roughly a third of its opening weekend average and it still hasn't expanded, which doesn't bode well.

The only other new limited release that did not top $10,000 on the per theater chart was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Or perhaps the film led the per theater chart. Early reports had it making $125,000 in 4 theaters, but final numbers we received from the studio was $334,000 in 48 theaters for an average of $6,962. The discrepancy is explained by the fact that the movie is playing in 44 theaters in Canada, which were not included in the original estimate. (Our charts are for the "North America" movie territory, incidentally, which includes the US, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam. Virtually all studios report their box office numbers for all four countries combined, although, as in this case, some US-only numbers make it into reports once in a while.)

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

  • Broken Embraces had the best single weekend of its run so far and cracked $1 million in the process. Its per theater average is strong enough that it could still expand in the coming weeks.
  • 3 Idiots made more than $1 million over the weekend and has $2 million since its Wednesday opening.
  • The Road reached $5 million since this time last week, but that is likely as far as it will go.
  • Nine earned $5 million over the weekend, but while it will have no trouble reaching $10 million, it likely won't see any real expansion from now on.
  • Up in the Air nearly doubled its running tally over the weekend to more than $20 million. It is possible that it will expand truly wide (2,000 or more theaters), especially if it can continue to pick up nominations and awards.

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Filed under: Los abrazos rotos, Up in the Air, Nine, The Road, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Avatar, The Lovely Bones, Sherlock Holmes, Crazy Heart, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel