FOX, you got lucky.
Those of you who don't fanatically watch movie box-office totals like I do may not even be aware that last weekend's No. 1 movie was the as-funny-as-it-is-offensive mockumentary "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."
"Borat" claimed the top spot over the three-day weekend, with $26.5 million in ticket sales and a hefty $31,000 per-screen average.
What made the low-budget comedy's theatrical performance so unusual was that it opened at 837 locations, compared to the 3,400-plus that Disney's "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" was shown at and the 3,700-plus locations for DreamWorks Animation's "Flushed Away."
Those considerably higher-profile films finished second and third over the weekend, with $19.5 million and $18.8 million, respectively.
The third "Santa Clause" was expected to be the big winner of the three.
It was not to be, however. "Borat" steam-rolled its way to the highest grossing weekend for a film opening in fewer than 1,000 theaters, besting Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," which grossed $24 million back in 2004.
But getting back to 20th Century Fox, which distributed the film. The studio may have stumbled onto the perfect release strategy.
Fox began pre-screening the movie, which is based on Sacha Baron Cohen's clueless Kazakhi journalist character from the now-defunct HBO comedy program "Da Ali G Show," more than a month ago.
And originally, Fox officials were planning to open the film "wide," in more than 2,000 theaters last weekend. But they reduced that number by half when polling and early tracking suggested that the film wasn't going to be a hit.
As a result, many theaters around the country reported sold-out showings all weekend, including Sandy's Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons. That created instant word-of-mouth, and the film is continuing to do well, easily outpacing its current competition.
This weekend, Fox expanded its release to 2,200-plus screens, so we'll see if that momentum continues. Especially since the Will Ferrell vehicle "Stranger Than Fiction" opened Friday.
PEOPLE LIKE BORAT. THEY REALLY LIKE HIM.
It certainly didn't hurt that "Borat" got such terrific reviews. In fact, according to the Rotten Tomatoes Web site (www.rottentomatoes.com), it's the currently best reviewed film in release (tied with the considerably more high-brow "The Queen"). And of course, it has good audience word of mouth.
Of course, there has been some speculation, based on the film's lofty, per-screen average, that "Borat" could have made $100 million in its opening weekend — or at least close to $70 million if the studio had simply gone ahead with its original release strategy.
However, that's specious thinking. It's more likely the film would have taken in the same amount, or possibly as much as $40 million. The audiences just would have been more spread out, and there would have been fewer sellouts.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com