I drafted Borat in the first round and now I’m reading that it is only being released in 800 theaters…what does this mean and how will it affect the film’s Moguls numbers? - Dieter in Muncie, Indiana

First off, Dieter, my wife is from Terre Haute so I have to give a shout-out to any Hoosier I come across. I have been to your state several times and had a blast each time.

In answer to your question, yes, Borat has been reduced to 800 theaters. The reason is, it has not been tracking as well as Fox was hoping. Is this bad news? Well...yes and no. This is a word of mouth movie. Though Borat at times sounds like Mel Gibson, his is not. The movie has no star power. But evidence is mounting that it is funny as hell. You put out a hellaciously funny movie and odds are high you will have a long run. That is good news in this game. First of all, on only 800 screens, your opening PTA will likely be through the roof. Given that you are opening on a tough weekend, locking up a high PTA is as good as competing for the Top 5 Box Office points. Second, they are planning on platforming this film. That's an old release strategy term meaning to release on a limited number of screens, sell them out, build desire and word of mouth, and gradually increase the number of screens. Done well, that could mean many weeks of both Top 5 and PTA points. Done poorly...well, it doesn't always work. But the early reviews of Borat have been hugely positive, so I maintain my rosy prediction for this film, as should you.

I’m not sure I truly understand the 10 theater minimum rule as it pertains to PTA. Could you please explain it to me. - Pat in Newfoundland

Hi Pat, thanks for the question. Here goes. For most films released, their PTA is their PTA, end of story. But, for those few films that are released on fewer than ten screens, we figure their PTA as if they were on ten screens. Why? Because each year several films are released on only a handful of screens, sometimes as few as one or two. These are usually called Exclusive Engagements. Often they are designed to build Oscar Buzz, or really feed the word of mouth machine. Huge Disney animation often does this, and so do prestige films. Some special-market foreign films do this, too.

The problem is, this strategy does not give a true reflection of the film's PTA performance. It is a gimmick, intended to artificially sell out every show. So, to make the game more even, we average these abberations out to 10 screens.

An example: Soderberg's The Good German is given a one week Exclusive release. It opens on just one screen in NYC and one screen in Los Angeles, and grosses $100,000.  In the charts, this would show a Per Theater Average of $50,000 a screen. We, however, take the gross of $100,000 and divide by our minimum--10 theaters--and its adjusted PTA is $10,000.  That is still going to score points, but it is no longer an absolute lock for the top place.

What is your take on Apocalypto? Will the whole Mel Gibson thing hurt more, or will the subtitles? - Cassie from Miami

You have named the biggest question mark of the season, in my opinion. Will the drunken tirade hurt the film? Probably, since they were counting on A Mel Gibson Film being a big selling point and the often charismatic star was planning to be out front doing a lot of promotion. Will the subtitles hurt? Maybe, but let us not forget that his last film was similarly subtitiled and it did pretty darn well. Now, this film is not about the Son of Man, so I would not necessarily count on a similar performance, but I wouldn't count out the idea that Mel has built himself a loyal fan base from that movie, and a thoughtful artistic film from him might just bring out bigger numbers than you would think. I for one am fascinated to see what it does. The only thing I think I know about this one is that I have heard early rumblings that it is quite decent and will likely garner kind reviews. Everything else is up in the air.

Keep those questions coming and good luck to all those with films opening this weekend!

Thomas Donnelly can be reached at Thomas@fantasymoguls.com.