My sleuthing on ticket sales for Melania

[Coventina]

Looking at our locally owned Harkins theatres.

One thing I noticed right away: It is only showing in affluent and "red" areas of the Phoenix area.
None of the theatres in central Phoenix or in Tempe (college town) are showing it at all.

Most of the screenings are in very small theatres. They are not devoting their big spaces to it.
Granted, it is a documentary, so that would probably be true for any documentary film.

Some of the showings are mostly sold out, except the front few rows, which are always the last to be sold.

My take-away:

This is only being screened in communities where Harkins thinks there are potential viewers.
They are not even bothering with their bigger markets (central Phoenix, Tempe, south Scottsdale).
Even in "red" and super affluent areas, the screenings are in glorified home theatres, and nothing is sold out.
So, this is not going to be a blockbuster, but there will be decent performance for what they appear to be expecting, which isn't much.

[biophile]

1. If it is shown in a small theatre in a very red area, it's probably conceivable that

It would “sell out”

[msongs]

2. those going for the nudie pics will be disappointed I hear. nt

[PeaceWave]

3. I looked online at a theater near me and what you're saying checks out...

Small screening...perhaps 50 seats. The movie is said to be showing in 1,500 theaters. If you showed it 4 times a day, that's 300,000 seats to be filled each day across the entire country. Some rich Trump kiss ass could buy up the entire lot for $3 million per day. Do that for a week, declare it a "huge success" and then pull it from theaters and start streaming online. A year from now, they'll bribe the right people to get Melania nominated for several Oscars.

[MerryBlooms]

4. Your post inspired me to check our local southern Oregon theater

Showing for a week, some seats sold, $11.25 a seat. All other movies being shown in regular format are $10.50 per seat. The grift continues...

[genxlib]

5. It's just a dumb idea

Besides the terrible subject matter….

Who the hell goes to the theater to see a documentary? At today’s prices the big screen is only good for action and spectacle. Even documentaries worth seeing can wait for streaming.

I think the last doc I saw in theaters was An Inconvenient Truth some 30 years ago.

And isn’t this a bad time of year for movies anyway?

[surfered]

6. Thanks for that. I'm hoping it flops.

[progressoid]

7. Six showings on the opening day here. Theater holds 62 seats. 62 X 6 372 seats

So far 11 tickets sold. And those are the discounted matinee tickets.