How to Win on the Per Theater Chart

March 30, 2010

Only one film earned more than $10,000 on the per theater chart, and that was the overall box office leader, How to Train Your Dragon. That film earned an average or $10,785 in more than 4,000 theaters.

The best of the new limited releases was Bluebeard, with $8,370 in its lone theater. Waking Sleeping Beauty was next with an average of $6,623 in five theaters. That's strong enough to suggest that other theaters will book the film, but not so strong that significant expansion is very likely. The same can be said of Dancing Across Borders, which opened with an average of $5,204. There was a large gap on the per theater chart as Chloe opened in 350 theaters but averaged just $2,573 per theater. Dream Boy was right behind with $2,243 in one theater, while The Eclipse finished the weekend with a nearly identical average of $2,201 from six theaters. Just Say Love struggled even more, missing the Mendoza Line at $1,257 in one theater. Manuela and Manuel opened with $629, also in one theater. Finally, we get to Ca$h, which opened in 27 theaters but only managed $16,000 for an average of $610.

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

• The Runaways reached $1 million before the weekend, but with a per theater average below $2000, prospects at expansion are limited. Even so, it should still reach $2 million. I'm unwilling to wager that it will make more.
• Greenberg expanded into more than 100 theaters, earning $1 million over the weekend. It should expand further, which makes more milestones inevitable.
• The White Ribbon hit $2 million over the weekend, but that is as far as it will go.
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo reached $3 million since last weekend, but that includes its previous run in Canada.

Filed under: Män som hatar kvinnor, Das Weisse Band: Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte, How to Train Your Dragon, Ca$h, Waking Sleeping Beauty, The Eclipse, Greenberg, The Runaways, Chloe