About that "High Per Screen Average"...

Sigh.

On Monday, the Hollywood Buzz woman, Nikke Finke noted on her site,

Also, Roadside Attractions' little known PG-13 Bella opened in only 165 theaters to make $1.3 mil this weekend but surprisingly had Friday's 3rd best per screen average ($8,026). "Think there are some distribution guys around town wondering right now what the heck a Bella is?" an insider on the film boasted to me...

So, then, I just got copied on this following email from a friend of mine in New York who got it this past weekend:

Dear _____,

10,000 tickets to BELLA have been purchased by GOYA FOODS for your use this
weekend!

This is a free gift from Goya Foods to New York.

(All showings Saturday/Sunday. Manhattan only. See Times/Locations below.
First come, first serve).

Goya foods believes in the message of Bella and wants New Yorkers to
experience the movie for FREE when it opens this weekend in Manhattan.

Bring anyone and everyone you want and spread the word.

Pick up tickets at the box office or look for people wearing Bella or Goya
t-shirts.

The executive producers of Bella and Goya Foods finalized these details
yesterday and we've been asked to help, so please get the word out. This
will be awesome.

Blessings,

Ten thousand tickets!?!! Wow!

How do we feel about this? Do you suppose this fact was also 'boasted' to Nikke Finke? Does it bug you that this movie's high per screen average is being vaunted in the press, but not that it was actually inflated by, um, Goya Foods? Suppose George Soros bought a million dollars in tickets to the latest anti-America movie and, then, the movie was reported to be a huge hit, how would you feel about that?

But more than just perception, it matters because according to one person associated with the project, the future expansion of the film's release was going to be decided by the distributor, Roadside Attractions, based on the opening weekend's receipts. But those receipts were inflated by 10,000 tickets in New York alone. When the secular industry finds out, do you think they will see this as Christians being admirable and savvy? Or trying to rig a game we can't win legitimately?

I don't know if this is wrong. Maybe it's just really shrewd playing of the game. I don't know.

I do know I have a headache...