The Whole Nine Yards on the Per Theater Chart

December 22, 2009

Like last week, the number one film on the per theater chart managed that feat despite mixed reviews. This week it was Nine, which opened with an average of $64,308, but I am concerned about its ability to expand, especially if its word-of-mouth match its reviews. The number one film on the overall chart, Avatar, placed second with $22,313 while Crazy Heart was not that far behind with an average of $20,666. Up in the Air's expansion continues but it remained strong on the per theater chart with an average of $18,344 in 175 theaters. Finally, Lovely Bones saw its average plummet this weekend to $15,032, which is more than 60% lower than last weekend. Had this been accompanied by an expansion this wouldn't be an issue, but it is still playing in just three theaters.

The only other new limited release that did not top $10,000 on the per theater chart was The Young Victoria, and it came close with $160,000 in 18 theaters for an average of $8,003.

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

  • Paris reached its first milestone after three months of release.
  • On the other hand, Up in the Air took just two weeks to reach $5 million and it has a massive expansion planned for this Friday.
  • It looks like Precious's box office run is winding down, as its per theater average is getting close to just $1,000 and it seems likely that a lot of theater owners will be willing to drop it in exchange for new releases. That said, it still reached $40 million over the weekend, which means it has made more than Planet 51 and has just about caught up to Duplicity. Additionally, should the movie start winning awards, it will very likely return to theaters.

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Filed under: Paris, The Young Victoria, Up in the Air, Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), Nine, Avatar, The Lovely Bones, Crazy Heart