"We've got a hit on our hands," proclaimed a rep for distributor ThinkFilm, reporting opening weekend box office estimates for the racy new documentary "The Aristocrats". Indeed. The film made a whopping $260,000 on just four screens this weekend in New York and Los Angeles, according to a ThinkFilm estimate reported to indieWIRE a few minutes ago. That's an estimated average of $65,000. (Final numbers will be available tomorrow.)
The unrated film, about a graphic inside joke told among comedians since the Vaudeville days, will expand to 8 - 10 screens in NY and LA this coming Friday and then screen in the top 15 markets in the country beginning August 12th.
In the past year, the highest per screen opening was Fox Searchlight's "I Heart Huckabees" which made more than $100,000 per screen on 4 screens last October, while this summer "March of the Penguins" from Warner Independent made $55,000 per screen on 4 screens in late June. - Eugene Hernandez
