Per Theater Chart: Love Leads the Way

January 23, 2013

Amour continues to show legs most limited releases can only dream of. Despite expanding its theater count to 36, the film topped the per theater chart with an average of $11,479. It is very rare for a wide release to reach the $10,000 level during this time of year, but that's exactly what Mama did, as it opened with an average of $10,730 during the three-day portion of the weekend. Quartet might have reached the $10,000 mark. We are still relying on studio estimates and at the moment the studio says it made $320,000 in 32 theaters for an average of exactly $10,000.

There were not a lot of new limited releases, and only one that did okay over the weekend. Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation earned $5,530 in its lone theater. LUV missed the Mendoza Line with an average of $1,837 in 45 theaters. That is too many theaters for a limited release, but the whole point of the Mendoza Line is, you really can't spin the result. Likewise, Officer Down is already on DVD and Blu-ray, so it is not a surprise it struggled at the box office. However, it really struggled with just $1,061 in its one theater.

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

• Amour got to $1 million over the weekend. This won't be the last time it reaches a major milestone.
• As expected, The Impossible surpassed $10 million over the weekend. It likely won't expand significantly beyond where it is, but it should get to $15 million before long.
• Silver Linings Playbook finally expanded wide over the weekend and that helped it get to $50 million. It has earned more than ParaNorman and it is closing in on American Reunion. Both of these films opened in saturation level theater counts.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, Quartet, The Impossible, Mama, Silver Linings Playbook, Amour, LUV, Officer Down, Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation