Arthouse Audit: 'King's Speech' Triumphs at Last
With reigning champion Black Swan expanding in to nationwide release, The King's Speech asserted its authority over the arthouse scene and emerged victorious for the first time in its four-week run. Other holdovers like 127 Hours and I Love You, Phillip Morris were less impressive, while awards contenders Rabbit Hole and Casino Jack had disappointing debuts in extremely limited release.

The King's Speech had its best showing yet, earning $1.1 million at 43 locations, which was good for 14th place on the overall weekend chart. While most of its gains can be attributed to more than doubling its theater count, it's worth noting that the movie's per-theater average was down only 18 percent to $25,515. The King's Speech's fourth weekend was slightly better than The Queen's third weekend, when it grossed $1.02 million at 46 theaters. The Colin Firth-Geoffrey Rush historical drama has thus far notched a total of $2.94 million, and it is set to expand to around 600 locations on Saturday, Dec. 25.

127 Hours continued to gradually remove itself from theaters, as it was down 45 percent to $556,044 at 307 locations. This translated to an anemic $1,811 per-theater average and a $9.3 million total through its seventh weekend. Things were even worse for Fair Game, which fell 60 percent to $219,973 at 268 venues for a total of $8.7 million.

I Love You, Phillip Morris added 14 locations for a total of 49 but dipped three percent to $148,301. Roadside Attractions currently has a Jan. 7 nationwide expansion planned for the Jim Carrey comedy, though it's only earned $522,812 through its third weekend.

Rabbit Hole and Casino Jack received Golden Globe nominations this week for leads Nicole Kidman and Kevin Spacey, respectively. If that had any impact on their opening weekends it was minimal at best, as each movie barely made a dent in the box office. Rabbit Hole made just $53,778 at five locations for a $10,756 per-theater average. Casino Jack was even worse as it nabbed $35,528 at seven venues for a meager $4,933 per-theater average.

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