Per Theater Chart: Beginning on Top

July 1, 2014

Despite there being a $100 million hit on the box office this weekend, Begin Again still led the way on the per theater chart with an average of $26,813 in five theaters. This bodes well for its expansion on Wednesday. The overall number one film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, was next with an average of $23,633 in more than 4,000 theaters. Snowpiercer was the third film to earn a per theater average over $20,000 with an average of $20,266 in eight theaters. America: Imagine a World Without Her was next with an average of $12,869 million in three theaters. Yves Saint Laurent was a surprise entry in the $10,000 club with an average of $12,104 in two theaters. It managed this despite earning weak reviews and opening on the Wednesday. The final film in the $10,000 club was Code Black, which climbed into the $10,000 club during its second weekend of release with $10,953 in two theaters. It is rare for a documentary to do this well, and it is even rarer for a film to see its per theater average grow.

There were a lot of other new limited releases, but most failed to come close to the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart. The Breakup Guru was the best of the rest at $5,583 in 12 theaters. Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger was next with an average of $4,762 in three theaters. There were a trio of films from India that were next, led by Punjab 1984 with an average of $4,569 in 58 theaters. Siddharth was right behind with $4,564 in one theater. Literally, one ticket more sold could have put it over Punjab 1984. Up next was The Villain with an average of $4,038 in just over 100 theaters.

There were several more new limited releases, all of which missed the Mendoza Line. The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz came the closest with $1,809 in twelve theaters. It was also on video on demand, so that's a mitigating circumstance. Nothing Bad Can Happen was well back with an average of $713 in four theaters. Radio Free Albemuth earned an average of $555 in ten theaters, which is terrible, but still not the worst for the weekend. That title goes to Jackpot, which earned an average of $403 in two theaters.

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

• Obvious Child got to $1 million over the weekend and should have no trouble getting to $2 million. It might make it there by this time next week.
• The Grand Seduction hit $2 million over the weekend and it could get to $3 million before its run is over. That's an excellent run for a Canadian film.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Begin Again, Obvious Child, Snowpiercer, The Grand Seduction, Yves Saint Laurent, Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger, The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, Radio Free Albemuth, Code Black, America: Imagine a World Without Her, Arme Riddere, Punjab 1984, The Breakup Guru, Tore tanzt, Siddharth, Ek Villain