Atlas may have shrugged last week but this week Atlas Tanked

[LynneSin]

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/boxoffice/

Remember folks - it isn't how much they make overall but how much is made per theater. You could have a movie that rakes in $10mill opening weekend but if it was playing in 3500 theaters that's $2857 per theater - which isn't that good.

Opening weekend - last week
First weekend Atlas Shrugged made only 1.6mil. But it was in 299 theaters (limited opening) which was an average of $5,640. To give you an idea of how 'good that was'. "Rio" and Scream 4 also opened wide last weekend. "Rio" was om 3800 theaters pulling in close to $40mil or 10,252/theater. "Rio" is a bonafide hit. Scream 4 was in 3300 theaters and only made $18.6mil or $5,656/theater. That's a modest opening - could have been better but they will recoup their $40mil cost to make the movie but no one will get rich off of it
(last week box office here - http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2011&wknd=15&p=.htm)

Second weekend
I guess the Atlas Shrugged people thought they had a hit on their hands. Some of the most successful movies start off small (500 theaters or less), get good word of mouth and build into a successful hit. I can assure you whatever momentum this movie had from last weekend was pretty much done. All the rabid Ayn Rand fans got out and saw the movie. They hit every website where they could post an opinion and give a rating to the movie (IMDB fan rating - 6.1/10, Yahoo Movies fan rating - A-, etc etc). But the thing is this - everyone who wanted to see it went and this weekend the movie was totally forgotten. I guess some theaters saw how it did well last weekend and decided to book the movie - 465 theaters was showing the movie. And yet they didn't even break a million with box office (just shy of $900k). That amount meant theaters was $1895 per theater, not exactly an amount that would inspire more theaters to carry the movie. Total gross on this movie has been $3million and it cost $20mill to make. If you're hopping to find out how it all ends with the sequels you'd be better off reading the book. (This week's box office - http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/)

I'm sure they'll eventually make back their money on the movie. The Rand fans will probably buy or rent the movie and it might make some money overseas. But it's hardly enough to inspire a sequel being made.

[rurallib]

1. every republican candidate will have to go at least 1000 times

since they can't buy pallets of this stinkeroo like they do with books.

[Deep13]

2. A sad end to the rocket that sent John Glenn into space.

Oh wait, you're talking about the movie made from that sociopathic Ayn Rand book.

[SteppingRazor]

3. How soon till the "liberal Hollywood kept this movie out of the theaters" conspiracy theories begin?

n/t

[Deep13]

4. Remeber how every multiplex in town had Fahrenheit 9/11?

Me neither. I had to drive an hour to see it.

[LynneSin]

5. Fahrenheit only did 868 theaters openin weekend and managed to do $24mil

http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2004&wknd=26&p=.htm

That's a whopping $27,558 per theater.

BTW next week was when the Spiderman 2 open an it only did $21k per theater ($88mil for the weekend)
http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2004&wknd=27&p=.htm

[SteppingRazor]

6. Didn't realize it was such a problem, but I live in a fairly big city.

So F9/11 was playing at the local arthouse cinema. I caught it opening day. Waiting in line was actually half the fun. A great moment of commiseration with simpatico souls in a deeply tragic era.

[Deep13]

7. Well, Cleveland-Akron has exactly one art house cinema...

...and it is nowhere near where I live. We went anyway on opening day. After the movie my wife and I got ahead of the exiting crowd and passed out Kerry buttons and bumper stickers as they left.

[Arugula Latte]

8. The market has spoken. nt

[regnaD kciN]

9. UPDATE: the third weekend (Atlas? Where are you, Atlas?)

22 18 Atlas Shrugged: Part I RM $403,000 -54.3% 371 -94 $1,086 $3,882,000 $20 3

Dropped another four spots in the rankings, with a 54.3% drop in revenues on top of last week's precipitous drop. Even though it lost over half of the theaters it picked up the week before, its per-theater take dropped from $1895 to $1086. At this point, Randroids had better look for parts two and three to go straight to DVD...and be produced in stop-action with Lego figures (which, I grant, would still be more realistic than Rand's characters).

[kentauros]

10. If they do stop-action Lego figures,

then Eddie Izzard can do the voices :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg