From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Twenty-seven theaters, a limited release across America, an art-house film—

It wasn't even an awards season movie, but a thoroughly independent film, with absolutely no connection to the current Hollywood industrial system.

From any perspective, this movie was not a market darling. Even the Palme d'Or glory was useless; weren't there enough highbrow and unpopular art films?

However, the interesting thing was that the bustling professional gaze still revolved around "Elephant."

Because of Anson's existence, because of the box office explosion of "Butterfly Effect," and because of the full house spectacle of Friday's limited release, Angelica Film Center seemed to be launching a new round of promotional activities amidst the collision of various factors, instantly stirring the emotions of professionals.

Uncontrollably.

So, what was the limited release box office data for "Elephant"?

During the limited release, because the number of theaters was too small, possibly only one, the data used to measure box office performance at this time was called per-theater average.

That is, the average box office data per theater.

In the historical list of this data, that is, the North American box office per-theater chart, Disney had an absolute advantage, presenting a strong screen-sweeping posture. The top ten were all Disney productions because they had a special venue—

The El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

The El Capitan Theatre was directly opposite the Kodak Theatre and less than a hundred meters away from the Chinese Theatre. The premiere of "The Princess Diaries" was previously held here.

Since 1989, the El Capitan Theatre signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Disney, and most Disney movies premiered here.

In fact, the El Capitan Theatre was not large, accommodating only 1,100 viewers, similar in size to the Chinese Theatre. But why was Disney's per-theater average so outstanding at the El Capitan Theatre?

The answer lay in the ticket price.

Referring to "The Princess Diaries," Disney productions often held corresponding theme events and experiences during premieres at the El Capitan Theatre, almost moving the Disney park experience to Hollywood Boulevard, with performances, displays, interactions, and so on. The premiere evolved into a small theme park.

Moreover, coupled with scarcity marketing, the film was only shown in one theater, the El Capitan Theatre, playing in a twenty-four-hour loop. Only this theater could be watched, and viewers naturally flocked to it, which also allowed Disney to further raise ticket prices, ultimately writing per-theater box office records.

In the 1990s, the average movie ticket was between four and seven dollars; however, the limited release tickets for these Disney movies were as high as fifty or even a hundred dollars, yet they were still in short supply.

As a result, predictably, Disney dominated the North American box office per-theater chart, with basically no opponents.

As of 2003, the top ten on this list were all occupied by Disney.

"The Lion King" led by a wide margin with a per-theater average of $790,000, a figure that was unprecedented and unmatched.

All Disney productions; and all were animated films.

So, who held the highest per-theater average record for a live-action film during its limited release?

The answer was slightly surprising, yet reasonable.

"Evita," starring Madonna and produced and distributed by Disney, had a per-theater average of $97,000, also created at the El Capitan Theatre.

At this point, it could be seen that Disney, with its special distribution strategy, had written a series of excellent achievements in the past decade, ultimately offering a series of classic works to the audience.

In this data, no one could truly break Disney's blockade.

And among the works not produced and distributed by Disney, the highest per-theater average record was held by "Moulin Rouge!," produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox in 2001, with a limited release in two theaters, a per-theater average of $83,000, ranking thirteenth on the all-time chart, looking up to a series of Disney films in front.

Precisely because of this, when people mentioned per-theater average data, they often divided Disney and other movies into two categories for separate discussion.

Until now—

"Elephant" appeared.

Of course, professionals did not think that "Elephant" could break Disney's blockade. No one thought so. No matter how great Anson was, this was a market bottleneck, a convention, a general consensus. People still considered "Elephant" in the category of "other movies."

However, thanks to the glory of "Elephant" selling out all Friday screenings, especially the feat of selling out all twenty-seven theaters, it was indeed impressive. This made people wonder whether "Elephant" could approach the record of "Moulin Rouge!"?

It should be noted here that it was not that professionals looked down on Anson's appeal, but an objective mathematical problem:

"Evita," limited release in one theater.

"Moulin Rouge!," limited release in two theaters.

"Elephant," limited release in twenty-seven theaters.

The basic data was there. Those movies with a per-theater average of more than $50,000 all had limited release venues of less than five—

No exceptions.

Not a single one. All, every single one, less than five.

Because only in this way could the audience gather together and detonate the per-theater average; once the limited release venues exceeded five, the crowds would disperse, and without the stimulation of scarcity marketing, the per-theater average data would not have such explosive power.

Moreover, these limited release venues were generally in Los Angeles and New York. Only these two major cities had so many enthusiastic movie fans willing to support an art film and pay for a movie ticket worth a hundred dollars. The consumption power and cultural heritage of other cities were far from enough.

The reason why professionals were professional was because they were clear about these rules. Therefore, there was no intention to discriminate against "Elephant," just an objective analysis.

However, even under such objective conditions, professionals still expected "Elephant's" per-theater average to break $50,000, and possibly even approach the data of "Moulin Rouge!". In other words, people were already looking forward to the Anson effect and the potential historical moment that followed, and their hearts could not help but surge.

Compared to the old news of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" continuing its box office success, the limited release craze of "Elephant" was obviously much more interesting.

Amid such anticipation and heated discussion, the final North American weekend box office for the last week of 2003 was released. People skipped over those high-ranking works and looked down, searching around but not seeing "Elephant" in the range of weekend box office from one million to two million dollars.

What was going on?

Could it be... less than a million dollars?

Looking all the way down, still nothing. Finally, they could only look up, one by one, and finally!

14, "Elephant," $2.87 million, twenty-seven theaters.

Wait, what did that mean for the per-theater average?