“Revolutionary Road,” which seemed to be losing momentum in the Oscar race, got the attention of the academy — most of whose ballots will arrive in the mail tomorrow — with its stunning opening-weekend numbers, caputuring the year’s best per-venue number, $64,133. Of course, Paramount Vantage created an artificial shortage by opening on only at three theaters, and there’s ample reason to question whether this devastating maritial drama starring “Titanic” Leonardo DiCaprio and presumptive Best Actress frontrunner Kate Winslet will fare as well once it expands beyond the rarefied precints of New York (where it’s at the Lincoln Square and Union Square) and L.A. “Gran Torino” expanded again, to 84 venues, and the hefty $38,155 average augers well for Warners’ January 9 wide expansion of this Clint Eastwood dramedy. “The Wrestler” averaged $28,611 as it expanded to 18 theaters, and Overture’s romantic comedy “Last Chance Harvey,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson averaged a lovely $28,611 in its debut at six lonely hearts clubs. Paramount’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” the only bona fide Best Picture contender (forget “Australia”) to open directly in wide release since the summer, averaged a most impressive — especially for a nearly three-hour-long flick — $22,000 at 2,988 old age homes (and reportedly over 3,500 screens). Another surprise is IFC and Steven Soderbergh’s “Che,” which averaged $15,893 as it reopened at the IFC Center and the NuArt in L.A. — most impressive for a 4 1/2 hour movie with subtitles that many of us assumed would be DOA. Universal’s much-hyped “Frost/Nixon,” which averaged $50,000 in its debut at three venues just three weeks ago (a record upset by “Revolutionary Road”) continued to collapse faster than Tricky Dick’s presidency as it expanded to 205 venues, averaging a relatively mediocre $11,029. By contrast, Fox Searchlight and Warners’ long-legged “Slumdog Millionaire,” which entered the marketplace a month before “Frost/Nixon,” averaged an impressive $9,471 and a cume of $19.6 million, which Variety, with typical sloppiness, asserts makes it the year’s top-grossing specialty release (Indiewire correctly points out it’s behind “Fireproof” at $33M and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” at $22.7M) Focus’ “Milk,” expanding 311 screens, has a less impressive average of $7,481, and the Weinsteins’ Nazi porn extravaganza “The Reader” (also with “Rev Road” star Winslet) dropped again to a $7,302 average at 116 venues. Miramax’s “Doubt,” the first of the limited-release Oscar contenders to cross the threshold for a wide release, expanded to 1,267 locations for $7 million, landing in 10th place overall with a respectable $5,450 per-location average over four days.
Box Office Oscar Watch: Leo and Kate Are King and Queen of the World Again, At Least For One Weekend
