Nelson Continues to Put Strangle Hold on Per Theatre Charts

August 22, 2006

Half Nelson was able to remain on top of the per theatre charts, barely, with an average of $18,755 in three theatres. That was less than $1,000 ahead of the second place film, The Illusionist and its $18,195 average; that figure is made even more impressive by the film's 51 theatre count, which is very high for a limited release and usually causes serious problems because the distributor can't do national advertising, but local advertising in lots of markets becomes very expensive.

For the third weekend in a row, The Wedding Curse's average topped $10,000 as it earned just over $50,000 in 3 theatres for an average of $17,271. Another holdover rounded out the list of $10,000 films as Viva Pedro saw its box office dip less than 24% to $10,227 in its lone theatre.

Just missing the $10,000 club was newcomer Factotum with nearly $60,000 in 6 theatres for an average of $9,869. Trust the Man was well back with an average of $4,744; this was a result of too many theatres and too few positive reviews. Vajra Sky Over Tibet was close behind with $4,471 in one theatre while 10th and Wolf earned an average of $3,462 in 6. The final new release of the week was The Pusher Trilogy, but it struggled with just $1,792 in its one theatre.

This past week also saw milestones reached for a few Per Theatre Charts alumni:

  • Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna saw the typical drop-off of a niche market film, but it still pulled in enough to make it past $2 million over the weekend and should still have enough left in it to reach $3 million before the end of its run.
  • Bon Cop, Bad Cop's weekend haul dipped below $1 million this weekend, but it still managed to hit $4 million during its theatrical run in Canada becoming one of the biggest local hits in that country in a long, long time. Will this be enough to get a release date in the States? In a word, no. The movie is half English and half French and deals with far too much Canadian cultural politics to be picked up south of the Border.
  • A Scanner Darkly is shedding theatres, and has been for a while now, but that didn't stop it from reaching $5 million midweek. This will be the last milestone the film reaches and that is exactly what was predicted back at the beginning of July.
  • Little Miss Sunshine again had its best weekend of its run, earning $5 million during the weekend alone. This pushed the film well past the $10 million milestone and it currently sits more than halfway to $15 million.

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Filed under: Little Miss Sunshine, The Illusionist, Bon Cop, Bad Cop, A Scanner Darkly, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Half Nelson, Trust the Man, Factotum, Viva Pedro, The Pusher Trilogy, 10th & Wolf