With about $8,400,000 earned yesterday (3017 theatres, $2785 per print), it’s been estimated that The Departed will have about $25,207,000 by Sunday night. The demographic is primarily older males. It’s not performing all that well with teenaged boys (yet) and is undoubtedly doing poorly with women of all ages, and is almost certainly playing stronger in urban blue state areas than in middle-red America.
Miramax has its first real hit with The Queen. Playing in only 11 situations, it did almost 10,000 a print for a total of about $105,000. I was at the Arclight last night (i.e., my second look at Flags of Our Fathers) and the 7:10 pm show of The Queen was sold out.
The widespread critical view that Little Children is an insightful, well acted, finely crafted drama didn’t seem to mean much with first-day audiences. It opened in five theatres and made about $6000 a print, for a total of $30 grand.
Weekend estimates: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning — $18,890,000; Open Season — $17,437,000, off 26%; Employee of the Month — $12,341,000; The Guardian, $9,869,000, off about 45%; Jackass Number Two — $7,021,000, off about 52%; School for Scoundrels — $3,819,000, off 56%; Gridiron Gang, $2,562,000; The Illusionist — $1,890,000.