“The Undefeated” – Crunching the Numbers

The Undefeated has been a tremendous success—though you wouldn't hear it from the “Lamestream Media”.

The film premiered in 10 different locations, grossing $65,132, or $6513 per screen during its opening weekend. We also know that at various locations, the documentary sold out entirely and acquired as much as $10,000 per screen.

This is a big darn deal, folks. To help you grasp the reality of this significant achievement, let’s take a look at some numbers.

H/T John Nolte @ Big Hollywood:

In the Box Office Mojo (see chart below and the original here) which looks at historical theatrical opening weekend numbers of political documentaries going back 20 years, ”The Undefeated” did remarkably well in the only categories that matter.

Compared to every other political documentary ever made:

1. “The Undefeated” ranks as #15 in the all-time highest grossing debut category (and this includes Michael Moore’s unique hold on this category). However — and this is a mighty important however – nine of the films ranked above the Palin doc opened on more screens — in some cases, hundreds more. 

2. On a comparative number of screens (less than 10), “The Undefeated” enjoyed the fifth highest-grossing debut in the history of political documentaries. 

3. Opening on a comparative number of screens (5 to 25), “The Undefeated” enjoyed the sixth highest per-screen average in the history of political documentaries. 

4. Compared to the per screen of “The Undefeated” to EVERY political documentary released on fewer than 10 screens, (all the way down to one, two, and three screens) although this is not apples-to-apples when you’re talking about a film released on ten screens but even with that apples-to-oranges comparison, the Palin documentary comes in at #11 ALL-TIME.

You will hear the “Lamestream Media” using words like “tepid” or “flop” in regards to the success of this film but it’s my philosophy to report the cold hard facts and I think you’d agree—these numbers don’t lie.