Time to talk a little biz-i-ness. Briefly. Some of you out there, myself included, had probably hoped for a slightly better box office showing from Eternal Sunshine. The good news is that it’s sixth place finish was actually a very strong showing, especially when one takes into account a more important number if one wants to make a more balanced comparison: per-screen-average.
Now this is slightly tricky only because one could easily make the argument that had this film had more screens or that film had fewer screens, the box office would or wouldn’t have been dramatically effected. (Sure, go ahead … make sense of that, why don’t you.) And it’s a valid argument. Had Eternal Sunshine opened in as many engagements as Dawn of the Dead or The Passion, it probably would not have come close to doing that level of business. The movie marketplace can only hold so much.
Still, what the per-screen-average numbers can tell is how the supply is being filled by any of the demand. When those numbers come in, Eternal Sunshine does, in fact, beat out The Passion as it comes in second behind only Dawn among the major releases that led the overall box office figures. Here is a list of the top 5 in per-screen (not including smaller limited indie releases; those numbers can be found later today on indieWire):
- Dawn of the Dead: 2745 screens/$9735 per screen
- Eternal Sunshine …: 1353 screens/$6042 per screen
- The Passion …: 3250 screens/$5974 per screen
- Taking Lives: 2705 screens/$4236 per screen
- Starsky & Hutch: 3185 screens/$$3262 per screen
I have no idea about Focus Features’ release plans: whether they intend to increase the screens or just stay steady, but with the kind of reviews and word-of-mouth ESOTSM (TM Lindsay) has been getting, I have a feeling it will continue with a relative strong take for several weeks. Will it be a huge blockbuster? Probably not. Will it crack $100-Mil? Probably not, but you never know. Does it deserve it? Absolutely.
Out of Focus 