In its second week of release, it was earning less on a per theater basis than Die Fälscher earned in its tenth week of release. And during its third weekend of release, it lost 40% of its theatre count. It won’t be able to cover its P&A costs theatrically, and will over cover its total cots IF it does much better than this on the home market. (I’m predicting it will, but that is not a guarantee.)

“So opening wide was really the only smart thing to do. But a wide release is really the only similarity between this film and Sicko.”

Before its release, it was being directly compared to Sicko and An Inconvenient Truth by people promoting it.

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2007/SICKO.php

Sicko did better in its fifth week or release than this movie did during its second.

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2006/INCVT.php

An Inconvenient Truth did not have a per theatre average this poor till its 12th week of release and earned almost as much in terms of raw dollars during second weekend of release, despite playing in just 77 theatres.

I believe this is exactly what I was saying when i wrote: “the only thing Stein has actually proven with his film is that nobody ever lost money overestimating the stupidity of the American people.”

Otherwise, look, the film made $5 million in two weeks in semi-wide release. It’s per screen average as of April 29 ($1,491) puts it solidly in the middle of independent film releases out there:
http://www.indiewire.com/boxoffice/080429.html

Rated by total box office, it was in the top ten.

It’s not a flop. It’s doing business. If the film had followed traditional independent film marketing and rolled out from a few openings in LA, NY and Chicago it would have died. The audience for the film is obviously in middle America, flyover country but opening in one theater in Kansas and hoping to build word of mouth would never have worked. So opening wide was really the only smart thing to do. But a wide release is really the only similarity between this film and Sicko.

No they are not. I do this for a living; a sub $5000 opening on the per theatre chart is merely average. Sub $2000 is an outright bomb. Under $3000 is far closer to outright bomb than it is to merely average. It is certainly not decent.

“It’s total box office of $5.3 million in 10 days makes it one of the highest grossing docs of the year so far.”

You have to compare it to films like Sicko, or An Inconvenient Truth, which is the comparison the filmmakers made when it was announced it would open in 1000 theatres.

And it cost more in P&A than any other documentary released this year. It cost $1 to $2 million just to make and ship the prints to theatres. That doesn’t count advertising, which probably cost the same, and of course the cost of making the movie in the first place, which is reported at $3.5 million. It hasn’t yet matched its total budget, and the theatre owners get there share.

It will make money only due to zealots who will buy the DVD out of a sense of religious duty.

Who books drone-voiced Ben Stein to give speaking engagements?

Insomniacs?

No, it’s a flop for a lot more reasons than that.

I caught a Ben Stein speech to young christians on C-Span a couple of years ago. Mr. Stein spent over half the speech urging his fellow religious fanatics to convert everyone they know, or else everyone they know will go to hell or something like that.

In addition to being a dangerous christian zealot, Ben has man-love for Joe McCarthy & George Wallace.

Here’s the per screen averages of Expelled and Osama the weekend they opened:

Expelled: $2,824
Osama: $1,458

Neither one of those numbers is much compared to opening weekend numbers for Standard Operating Procedure ($7,054/screen) or Up the Yangtze ($15,851/screen) but Expelled’s numbers are still decent for a political doc.

It’s total box office of $5.3 million in 10 days makes it one of the highest grossing docs of the year so far.
http://www.indiewire.com/biz/2008/04/nonfiction_camp.html

I think the fact that Stein opened the film on so many screens only proves my point that the guy was in it for the money. He knew it wouldn’t cut it with a platformed release and he wanted to get as much cash he could as fast as he could.

It was the widest release for a documentary ever. You can’t compare it to Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden but to films like Sicko, An Inconvenient Truth, etc. Even then, Expelled opening in far more theatres.

The point being is that the only thing Stein has actually proven with his film is that nobody ever lost money overestimating the stupidity of the American people.