I couldn’t have chosen a single best new movie opening this past weekend, and obviously neither could folks heading to the multiplexes. With box-office takes only at estimates on Monday morning, Happy Feet [my review] and Casino Royale [my review] were close enough to call it a tie: Feet looks to have earned around $42.3 million, and Bond around $40.6 million (almost exactly what Laremy predicted on Friday for the return of 007). But it’s possible, once we get a look at the actual numbers, that the already slim distance could get closer, and that Royale might pass the penguins.

But what’s a couple hundred thousand bucks here and there when you’re talking $40 million? Pundits are already spinning these numbers in the negative — both films “should have” opened better based on how other animated films and other Bond entries have done. But here’s the way to look at this past weekend: When the studios make good films and schedule them wisely, everyone comes away happy. Here we have a charming family film, perfect for moms and dads as well as kids, and a fantastic action flick, perfect for teens and couples and grownups looking for grownup escape — there was something new for everyone, and audiences responded by coming out in droves. Okay, sure, the two top films split the droves, but these films will both stand up well through the holiday season: they’re in it for the long haul.

A look at the per-screen numbers continues to bear out how well both films did: Royale drew $11,822 per venue, coming in second (if that’s what the final numbers show) to Feet, at $11,125, only because the toon was on slightly more screens. But neither film did as well as Christopher Guest’s new improvised satire For Your Consideration [my review], which earned $394,000 on 23 screens for a per-screen of $17,130. (For a sad comparison, the muckraking Fast Food Nation [my review] earned $390,000 … but it took 321 venues to do that, for a paltry $1,214 per screen.) But even Guest couldn’t beat Pedro Almodovar and his Volver, expanded to six screens and hauling in $24,166 per screen, or Emilio Estevez’s serious turn as a filmmaker with Bobby. On only two screens, the ensemble drama about the assassinated presidential candidate is rolling in $33,500 per screen. I found it one of the most powerfully affecting films of the year — look for it to do very well once it expands wide on Thanksgiving Day.

(Box office numbers via Box Office Mojo.)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MaryAnn Johanson
author of The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride
minder of FlickFilosopher.com