Per Theater Chart: Nothing is Impossible

December 20, 2011

It was a busy week on the per theater chart with several films in the $10,000 club. These were led by Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol with $30,083, but given its unusual opening, it's hard to judge this start. (More on its IMAX run later today.) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy expanded from four to sixteen theaters, but remained potent with an average of $28,549. Some measure of mainstream success is guaranteed, even if it is failing to live up to expectations during Awards Season. On the other hand, The Artist is starting to clean up during Awards Season and this is helping its per theater average remain strong at $16,904. It should have no trouble expanding some more, even if the nature of the film will prevent it from becoming a hit in Megaplexes. Carnage debuted with an average of $15,959 in five theaters, which is disappointing given its pedigree. The overall box office leader, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, was the final film in the $10,000 club earning an average of $10,704.

The only two other new limited releases we have numbers for were Corman's World and Cook County, which finished with nearly identical averages of $1,525 and $1,516 respectively. Neither film was expected to be a massive hit, but given Corman's World's reviews, I was really hoping for more.

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

• Shame reached its first milestone over the weekend and it should have no trouble getting to $2 million before long.
• The Artist surpassed $1 million just before the weekend and with lots of room to expand, it should continue to reach milestones for a while.
• Melancholia topped $2 million since last week, but unless it starts performing better during Awards Season, this will be its last major milestone.
• Margin Call hit $5 million just before the weekend. While that's as far as it will go, it has made more than it cost to make, and more than twice what the distributor paid for the domestic rights, so it should break even on the home market.
• The Descendants has reached $25 million in limited release, and it is already ahead of Abduction, which was a saturation level release. With the number of major nominations it has pulled in, there's little doubt it will continue to reach milestones over the holidays.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, Sherlock Holmes, Abduction, The Descendants, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Margin Call, Melancholia, Shame, Carnage, Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel, The Artist, Cook County