Final Box Office: "An Inconsistent Truth" Tops Indiewire's Weekly Box Office Chart

Each Tuesday, Indiewire publishes a box office chart that sorts the final weekend numbers of all specialty releases by per-theater-average.  Check out the full chart here, but here's some highlights:

Top Per-Theater-Average:  "An Inconsistent Truth" (Rocky Mountain Pictures)
Advertised as "the movie Al Gore doesn't want you to see," Shayne Edward's "An Inconsisent Truth" -- which criticizes "global warming culture" -- topped what was a pretty weak weekend at the specialty box office. In its second weekend, the film grossed $12,176 on a single location, narrowly defeating Madonna's "W.E." for the weekend's best per-theater number. Rocky Mountain previously distributed conservative doc hits like "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" and last year's disappointing Tea Party-supported "Atlas Shrugged, Part I."

Best Debut: "W.E." (The Weinstein Company)
Madonna's flick had the most impressive debut of an underwhelming batch of newcomers, but that's not saying much. The film took in $47,074 from four screens for a so-so average of $11,769. It's at least a step up from Madonna's previous directorial effort, "Filth and Wisdom" which opened to a $4,597 gross and ended up taking in $22,406. Not to damn with faint praise, but "W.E." has already done better than that.

Most Impressive Holdover: "A Separation" (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Foreign Language Film Oscar frontrunner continued to prove a very potent performer in its sixth weekend, jumping to 40 screens (from 31) and grossing $280,258. That's a 5.1% uptick from last weekend, and gave it the third highest average of any specialty film - $7,006. The film's total stands at $1.26 million and counting, and if that Oscar works out Sony Classics could end up with a $3 million+ final gross.

Milestones: "The Iron Lady" and "The Artist" (The Weinstein Company)
The Weinstein Company's 2011 holdovers "The Iron Lady" and "The Artist" each crossed the $20 million mark this weekend. Budgeted at $13 million and $15 million, respectively, the films are turning into considerable specialty hits. This is particularly true of Oscar frontrunner "The Artist," which has no recognizable stars, is a French import and has, well, no dialogue. An anomaly in every regard, Oscar wins could push it well beyond this milestone.

Check out the full box office chart.