“Capitalism” Averages $9K on Opening Day

A scene from Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story." Image courtesy of Overture Films.

Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” managed some good, though relative to Moore’s other films somewhat disappointing numbers on opening night.  Before its nationwide expansion next week, Overture Films released Moore’s latest on only four screens yesterday, which resulted in $36,416 in grosses and a $9,104 per-theater-average.

For a mid-week opening, a $9,104 PTA is impressive.  Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” for example, averaged $3,298 from 10 screens on a mid-November Wednesday last year. However, for Moore, its well below the intensely high standard he’s set for himself. His last mid-week limited review, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” opened on a two screens on a Wednesday and took in a massive $83,922, averaging $41,961 (though, mind you that was during the summer). 2007’s “Sicko” opened on a Friday, so its opening numbers are somewhat incomparable, but just for a reference it averaged $23,576.

It will be interesting to see how the film does over the weekend (where it will continue to run on 4 screens), and even more interesting to see how it does on approximately 1,000 screens next Friday, October 2nd. Check back with indieWIRE for updates.

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