The question is this: how in Hell did Universal expect to recoup the cost of making Serenity by limiting it's release to less than 900 theaters. I checked the average box office receipts for several movies(ones that have been out at least 3-4 weeks), the number of theaters and box office gross. Some of the numbers leap out at you:

Serenity: 887 theaters, $1.2k/theater, $24.2 million

Tim Burton's Corpse's Bride: 1702 theaters, $1.1k/theater, $50.5 million

In Her Shoes: 2237 theaters(WTF?), $1.7k/theater, $26.2 million

Corpse's Bride is in week 6, so it's first run price per theater has leveled out; In Her Shoes will likely continue to plummet, probably dropping to around the $1.2k/theater mark this week.

Anything leap out at you? Do you notice the most pronounced difference between Burton's movie, which will likely be considered a box office success, and Serenity, will may end up looking like a box office dud? Survey says.... DING-DING-DING! Why yes, that IS the number one answer: double the number of theaters and you might double the box office gross. Crap, even The Fog, which looked like it would suck, got released in almost 3000 theaters.

Maybe next time, if there is a next time, Universal will go with a wider release.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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