Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Fahrenheit 9/11 - a not so well reported statistic

That Fahrenheit 9/11 was the number-one movie this weekend has been well reported. That it was the number-one opening weekend for any documentary ever has also been widely reported. What is not so widely reported is that with a total weekend gross of $23,920,637 and showing in 868 theaters that makes its average gross per theater $27,558.

That is pretty f**king amazing. If you don't believe me look at the list of all-time box office opening weekends grosses. Take a look down the average column and you'll see that compared with all of these mega million dollar budget Hollywood blockbusters, Moores Fahrenheit 9/11, produced on a $6 million budget managed to get the Number 2 all-time record spot for average gross per theater on the opening weekend.

That's right, only one movie ever (Spider Man) has made more per theater on its opening weekend and geez, wasn't that a great movie (not!). Do you think the $50 million marketing budget for that movie had something to do with it? In fact even with its all time record opening weekend haul of $115 million Spider-Man still didn't manage to recoup its $170 million total production and marketing costs.

Another record broken is all-time gross for any documentary. Yes, in less than a week Fahrenheit has already grossed 30% more than any other documentary managed in their entire lifetime.

If Fahrenheit can gross an average per theater of more than $19,755 this weekend then it will be the number one all-time record holder for second weekend gross per theater (beating out Spider-Man). I personally think it can do it based on the huge number of my friends who have not been able to see the movie yet and will probably try to do so. In addition there's a lot of people who'll go see it again, and take more friends along. It should be interesting.

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