Bernie Buried the Competition on the Per Theater Chart

May 2, 2012

Bernie got off to an unexpectedly strong start with an average of $28,602 in three theaters. With 82% positive reviews, it should have strong enough word-of-mouth to expand significantly. Headhunters was the only other film in the $10,000 club earning an average of $10,753 in four theaters. As a foreign language film, it will have more trouble expanding.

New limited releases were all over the place with some doing well enough to make expansion likely, while others bombed utterly. Sound of My Voice was on the high end of the scale earning an average of $7,227 in five theaters. Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment opened with $6,193 in its lone theater. Elles struggled somewhat with an average of $4,048 in six theaters. Whores' Glory missed the Mendoza Line with an average of just $1,786 in three theaters. The subject matter obviously limits its target audience, but it deserved better than this. Citizen Gangster went nowhere with just $625 in one theater.

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

• Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day reached $1 million over the weekend, but its per theater average is low and it lost a huge chunk of its theater count this past weekend, so that's as far as it will go.
• The Kid with the Bike hit the $1 million mark just before the weekend, but it only has a very slim shot at $2 million.
• Bully topped $2 million and could get to $3 million before too long. Getting past that will be a lot tougher.
• October Baby made it to $5 million since last weekend, but that's as far as it will go.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, Bernie, Hodejegerne, Le gamin au vélo, Bully, Elles, October Baby, Whores’ Glory, Sound of My Voice, Woman Thou Art Loosed On the 7th Day, Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment, Citizen Gangster