Per Theater Chart: Life at the Top

July 12, 2011

Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest opened in first place on the per theater chart with an average of $27,996 in four theaters, which was the best per theater average in more than a month. Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness was relatively close behind with $20,247 in its lone theater. Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the only holdover to reach $10,000 on the per theater chart with an average of $11,469.

Only a couple other new limited releases were able to perform reasonably well on the per theater chart. Project Nim was the best of the rest with an average of $6,455 in four theaters, while Rapt earned $5,872 in one theater over the weekend and $7,851 from Wednesday through Sunday. The Ledge opened with a mere $2,588 and will likely go nowhere from there. On the other hand, at least it avoided missing the Mendoza Line, a fate a trio of limited releases were unfortunate enough to suffer through. Fading of the Cries was the best of these with an average of just $767 in three theaters, putting it just ahead of The Ward and its average of $705 in eleven. Chillar Party opened with a tiny average of $594 in seven theaters, which is further evidence that Bollywood kids movies are very risky ventures.

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

• Delhi Belly held up better than expected and that helped it reach $1 million over the weekend. $2 million isn't completely out of the question, but it will be a long shot.
• Beginners peaked at the box office, but it still managed $3 million over the weekend and will have no trouble getting to $4 million before too long.
• Midnight in Paris reached $35 million early in the week, and by the end of the weekend it was ahead of Annie Hall and just behind Manhattan. By this time next week, it will be Woody Allen's biggest hit, at least in terms of raw dollars. Ticket sales are another matter all together.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Beginners, Midnight in Paris, The Ward, The Ledge, Project Nim, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, Fading of the Cries, Rapt, Chillar Party, Delhi Belly, Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness