Wes Anderson's 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' Sets A Box Office Record
Briefly: Wes Anderson's latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, set a major box office record this weekend. Playing on just four screens, it grossed $811,166 total. That's an average of $202,792 per screen, making it the highest-grossing limited live action debut of all time. The previous record holder was from that other Anderson, Paul Thomas, whose recent film The Master made $147,262 per screen on five screens. (Kevin Smith's Red State actually grossed $204,230, but with the higher than normal ticket prices for that tour, some tallies account for it differently.)
The film didn't come close to the all-time per screen average for any film, however. That record is held by Disney's The Lion King, which grossed $1.59 million on two screens on its opening weekend. The Grand Budapest Hotel expands over the next few weeks. [Variety and Box Office Mojo]