Per Theater Chart: New Releases are a Little Rusty

December 4, 2012

It was a rather slow week on the per theater chart with only two films topping the $10,000 mark, and none of them were massive hits. Rust and Bone rose to first place with an average of $12,369 in two theaters. It rose to top spot thanks to a miniscule 9% drop-off. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Beware of Mr. Baker, which was right behind with $12,195 in its lone theater.

There were only a couple other new limited releases that did well, and unfortunately, there were several that struggled. Talaash was amazing with an average of $9,527 while playing in 172 theaters. Is Bollywood finally starting to become mainstream? I hope so. Hecho en Mexico did okay with an average of $6,344 in 12 theaters. California Solo was well back with $3,412 in 1 theater. Young and Wild missed the Mendoza Line, but was close with an average of $1,899 in 2 theaters. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning was even worse with an average of $1,060 in three theaters. Silent Night was relatively close behind with an average of $879 in 11 theaters, while Dragon earned an average of $796 in 14.

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

• Talaash opened with more than $1 million, so clearly it reached the $1 million milestone. Getting to $2 million is academic, but these films tend to have short legs, so I'm not sure how far it will get after that.
• The Sessions got to $4 million on Tuesday and it is already more than halfway to $5 million.
• Anna Karenina did well in its further expansion getting all the way to $4 million. Surpassing $5 million is virtually guaranteed, while the $10 million milestone is probably the end goal.
• It took a while, but To the Arctic had the legs to reach $10 million. It took about five months to get from $5 million to $10 million. Unless it is still in theaters this time next year, that's as far as it will go.
• Silver Linings Playbook fell out of the top ten, but it till topped $10 million over the weekend. At this pace, it should have no trouble getting to $15 million, while further milestones are very likely if it can earn more major Award Season nominations.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, The Sessions, Wu Xia, Anna Karenina, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Silver Linings Playbook, To the Arctic 3D, De rouille et d’os, Silent Night, Beware of Mr. Baker, Hecho en México, California Solo, Talaash, Joven y alocada