Theater counts: West Side Story and National Champions start relatively small

December 9, 2021

This weekend will be a pleasant change from the last one at the box office as we see two new wide releases make their way into North American theaters. Both are starting out with targeted releases, rather than opening as wide as possible. The one with the largest release is the romantic musical West Side Story, which is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars a distinguished ensemble cast including Ansel Elgort and Ariana DeBose. West Side Story will open in 2,820 locations. Also new this week is National Champions. The film from STX Entertainment follows a star collegiate quarterback who ignites a players’ strike hours before the biggest game of the year in order to fight for fair compensation, equality, and respect for the athletes who put their bodies and health on the line for their schools. Arriving in 1,197 locations, National Champions stars Stephan James and J.K. Simmons, along with an array of cameos from the NFL and sports world.

Despite these new arrivals however, Ghostbusters: Afterlife will remain on top of our theater count chart for one more week despite dropping below 4,000 locations, coming in this week at a still impressive 3,815 theaters. Encanto, House of Gucci, Eternals and Clifford the Big Red Dog round out this week’s top five.

A long list of limited releases once again graces this week’s schedule, including Red Rocket. Simon Rex stars as Mikey Saber, in a portrait of a uniquely American Hustler and a hometown that barely tolerates him. Also opening this week is the biographical feature about television icons Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, titled Being the Ricardos. The film, directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as the comedy duo will be available on the big screen and as an Amazon exclusive release. Lastly, girlfriend-comedy Off the Rails and Spanish drama White on white are set to open in 10 and six locations respectively.

Looking ahead to next week we see the debut of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The latest feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe once again stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Jon Watts directed this latest Spider-Man film which is expected to arrive in about 4,000 locations. Its predecessor, Spider-Man: Far From Home took in $92.57M from 4,634 locations during its opening weekend back in 2019, while going on to earn $390.5M at the domestic box office, and $1.13B worldwide. That film lists number three on the widest opening weekend chart just behind The Lion King (2019) at 4,725 theaters and Avengers: Endgame at 4,662 theaters.

Also opening wide next week is the Guillermo del Toro psychological thriller, Nightmare Alley. The movie which is based on the 1946 novel of the same name and features a large ensemble of top Hollywood talent. It is estimated to land in 2,000 theaters.

Theater Counts for December 10

Estimates for December 17

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Theater Counts, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Nicole Kidman, Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons, Steven Spielberg, Aaron Sorkin, Tom Holland, Jon Watts, Ansel Elgort, Stephan James, Ariana DeBose