Theater Averages: Sorry isn’t a Bother

July 12, 2018

Sorry to Bother You dominated the theater average chart this week with an average of $45,454 in 16 theaters. As I previously mentioned, this is the sixth-best opening average for a limited release this year. Ant-Man and the Wasp earned top spot on the weekend chart and second place here with an average of $18,025. Three Identical Strangers remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $13,427 in 51 theaters and should have no trouble expanding further. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda earned $12,827 in its lone theater, which is excellent for a documentary. Leave No Trace remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,892 in 37 theaters. It will continue to expand.

There were not many other new limited releases and almost none of them did well. Under the Tree was the best of the rest with an average of $4,539 in three theaters. Whitney earned an average of $2,825 while playing in 451 theaters.

There were also two really strange releases where we can’t calculate a realistic theater average. Fireworks had a special one-time showing in 500 theaters on Tuesday, played regular shows in 3 theaters throughout the weekend, and had additional one-time special showings in 500 theaters on Saturday. Likewise Yellow Submarine was playing one showing on Saturday in 73 theaters earning an average of $1,467 during that one showing. That number is at least easy to calculate, but it is not useful when comparing the movie to other films that had a dozen or so showings over the full weekend.

This past week also saw milestones reached for a couple of Theater Average Chart alumni:

• Whitney opened with $1 million, so it obviously got to its first milestone along the way. Its theater average is low enough that it won’t last in theaters for too long.
• Three Identical Strangers also reached $1 million over the weekend; however, unlike the previous film, its theater average is high enough to allow continued expansion.
• Gotti managed to get to $4 million before the weekend, but that’s as far as it will go.
• Sanju got to $5 million very early in the weekend and it is still going strong.
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor got all the way to $10 million early in the weekend and it is about halfway to $15 million.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Theater Averages, Yellow Submarine, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Gotti, Whitney, Uchiage Hanabi, Shita Kara Miru ka? Yoko Kara Miru ka?, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Sorry to Bother You, Leave No Trace, Three Identical Strangers, Undir trénu, Sanju, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda