Per Theater Chart: Iron Man Has a Story to Tell

May 15, 2013

Iron Man 3 again earned first place on the Per Theater Chart, but this time it was closer with an average of $17,053. The second best film on the per theater chart was the second best film on the overall chart, The Great Gatsby, which earned an average of $14,168. The best limited release was Stories We Tell with an average of $13,527 in two theaters. It had previously opened in Canada, where it made $360,000. One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das earned $11,515 in one theater.

None of the rest of the new limited releases did well. Sightseers struggled like most black comedies do with an average of $3,692 in two theaters. Venus and Serena earned an average of $2,745 in four theaters, while Still Mine was right behind with an average of $2,626 in 21. No One Lives missed the Mendoza Line by a large margin earning an average of just $902. Aftershock was even weaker with an average of just $365. Both results show that horror films rarely succeed in limited release.

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

• As expected, The Company You Keep topped $4 million over the weekend. It is shedding theaters pretty rapidly, but $5 million isn't out of the question.
• The Place Beyond the Pines got all the way to $15 million over the weekend, and while its per theater average suggests it will start losing theaters, it should still stick around long enough to get to $20 million. This is more than Beautiful Creatures or Broken City made, and they were both wide releases.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Theater Averages, The Company You Keep, The Great Gatsby, Iron Man 3, Stories We Tell, The Place Beyond the Pines, Still Mine, No One Lives, Sightseers, Venus and Serena, Aftershock, One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das