Well, the estimate is $9,447 per screen for Fahrenheit 9/11 versus $2,480 for White Chicks. That $9,447 is actually pretty huge. To put it in perspective, if that same ratio were for a wide-release blockbuster, it'd make around $104 million for the weekend.
It's best not to underestimate the mob of rabid liberals in America..
Well also, this has been hyped up for months as sort of a kind of DU Christmas Eve, also.
Interesting that you left that factor out.
The estimate per screen is misleading.
1) All the liberals who want to see the movie are seeing it this weekend. Will there be return business? With Spider-Man opening next weekend? I sincerely doubt it. The only return business is MoveOn folks.
2) Because there is a small amount of theaters, they are more packed than normal theaters. Thus the amount per screen will be larger with the same number of people divided by the smaller number of screens.
3) 'White Chicks' is a stupid comedy, which will flop anyways...almost every gender-bender/race-bender movie has flopped when it is the major premise. 'The Terminal' is a feel good kinda movie, which has sustaining power, but will have its audience grow with word of mouth like 'Cold Mountain' did last year. But neither equals Spider-Man 2. NOTHING will compare to the opening that movie gets...expect the record held by Titanic to be broken finally.