Beginning with its debut at the Telluride Film Festival three months ago, The Imitation Game has consistently played well among upmarket mainstreamers. It was much more popular at Telluride than Birdman, due in large part, I suspect, to female fans of Benedict Cumberbatch. And now it’s tallied the second-highest per-screen average of the year in limited release, earning $482 grand in just four New York and Los Angeles screens since Friday. A Variety report mentions that big per-screen averages are sometimes “met with indifference when they expanded beyond urban areas,” but I don’t see that happening here. Game plays right to the sweet spot of urban, well-educated over-35 types, and I think that this commercial success will counter-balance quibbling reviews and carry it aloft into serious Oscar contention. Opinions from those who saw it this weekend? How much independent male support will manifest on top of the “Cumberbitches“?