Interesting the demise of this film is being touted, yet it had the second highest per theater gross this weekend. Next weekend, 1000 more theaters. Now, that could be because devotees went. Or it could be it's actually good. We'll see.
No it didn't. Where'd you get that? It had the ninth highest per screen average.
Weekend Box Office Results for April 15-17, 2011 - Box Office Mojo
April 15-17 weekend:
Double Hour $15,123 per screen average
Evil Bong 3-D $12,265 per screen average
Rio $10,252 per screen average
Blank City $9,184 per screen average
The Princess of Montpensier $7,819 per screen average
Meek's Cutoff $7,046 per screen average
Deep Sea 3-D $6,852 per screen average
Scream 4 $5,656 per screen average
Atlas Shrugged: Part I $5,640 per screen average
Per screen numbers do mean something, but the fewer the number of theaters the higher that number will be, which is why independent films often have a higher per screen average yet obviously don't make nearly as much money as studio productions and more often than not fail to make back their budget and marketing costs. When an independent film is a big hit in a small number of theaters and that justifies a wider release and suggests there's sufficient interest that it will do well in say 1,000 or even 3,000 theaters, it tends to have a significantly higher per screen average than $5,640. Black Swan for instance had an $80, 212 per screen average its first week of release. Or to use a lower budget film than Swan or Atlas that had no stars and was a political polemic, Fahrenheit 9/11 had a per screen average of $27, 588 its opening weekend and in only 868 theaters or less than 3 times as many as Atlas Shrugged, it was the #1 film at the box-office overall, taking in $23.9 million and beating out 12 films that were playing in 2,000-3,400 theaters. $5,000 per screen in 300 theaters suggests it will not gross nearly enough to be considered a hit or cultural phenomenon and is not even likely to make back its $10 million. Hell, it made less than half the per screen of a movie called "Evil Bong 3-D."
I like how the goal posts have been moved too from changing the face of American politics to not being a dismal failure. Fahrenheit grossed $119 million domestic and even that certainly didn't change the face of American politics.
