Theater Averages: Parasite Sinks Its Teeth into the Competition

October 18, 2019

Parasite

Parasite was the only new release in the $10,000 club, but it not only led the way over the weekend, its average of $128,072 in three theaters is the best average this year. In fact, this is not only the best average of the year, its the best average since La La Land’s debut in 2016. While Parasite was the only new release in the $10,000 club, it wasn’t the only member. Joker was in a distant second place, a very, very distant second place with an average of $12,771. Meanwhile, Célébration was very close behind with $12,678 in its lone theater. Pain and Glory remained in the $10,0000 club with an average of $11,819 and it managed this feat despite expanding its theater count to 23 theaters.

There rest of the new limited releases didn’t do very well. Mister America barely got halfway to the $10,000 club with an average of $5,045 in two theaters. Meanwhile, Gift barely avoided the Mendoza Line with an average of $2,128 in two theaters.

The Sky is Pink earned an average of $1,523 while playing in nearly 200 theaters. Beloved Beast wasn’t too far behind with an average of $1,298 in three theaters. 100 Acres of Hell wasn’t even able to get to $1,000 earning $997 in its lone theater. Metallica & San Francisco Symphony S&M2 had a special engagement during the week and earned nearly $1 million overall; however, it only managed $145,000 in 157 theaters over the three-day weekend for an average of $922. Going further down the list, we find The Dead Center with an average of $602 in ten theaters. High Strung: Free Dance was next with an average of $515 in just over 100 theaters. That gets us to A German Youth, which opened with $416 in its one theater.

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

  • My Country, My People got to $2 million over the weekend, which is already more than most foreign-language films manage to make. It probably won’t expand significantly beyond this point, but it should still last long enough to get to $3 million.
  • Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice topped $3 million and it is very rare for documentaries to get this far.
  • Likewise, War already hit $3 million and it should get to $4 million. It isn’t a sure thing, as Bollywood films tend to disappear from theaters rather quickly.
  • As expected, Judy reached $10 million and I doubt it is done.
Weekend Box Office Results

Filed under: Theater Averages, Judy, High Strung: Free Dance, Dolor y gloria, Joker, The Sky is Pink, Parasite (기생충), Célébration, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, Beloved Beast, Mister America, Metallica & San Francisco Symphony S&M2, War, Gift, The Dead Center, Une jeunesse allemande, Wo he wo de zu guo, 100 Acres of Hell