Film 'Ararat' Opens With the Largest Per Screen Average of Any Film This Week Film Averages $32,188 Per Screen in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ --
Miramax Films is proud to announce that"Ararat," a Robert Lantos production written and directed by Atom Egoyan,which was released in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto on Friday, November15, had a very strong opening weekend and averaged $35,188 per screen, the largest of any film this weekend. In the first three days, "Ararat" brought in $211,130 on six screens in North America.

"These numbers exceed my wildest expectations," said Egoyan. "Miramax andAlliance have done an extraordinary job of combining grass roots marketing with a more traditional campaign."

"These initial numbers are the first real vindication for our efforts to bring this untold chapter of history to the screen," said producer Robert Lantos. "The amazing response at the box office corroborates my conviction that there definitely is a commercial audience for a thought provoking film with substance."

"Ararat," which has been warmly embraced by the North American Armenian community, premiered in Los Angeles last week as the American Film Institute's "Centerpiece." The film was also the subject of a cocktail reception and screening at the Library of Congress, hosted by the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, Co-chairs Representative Frank Pallone Jr., Representative Joe Knollenberg, and Honorary Host Senator Robert Dole.

"Ararat" is Atom Egoyan's most provocative film to date. It is a story about truth and denial -- on both an intimate and a grand scale. The estranged members of a contemporary Armenian family are faced both withTurkey's denial of their catastrophic past and with their own complicated present. Told in Egoyan's trademark elliptical style, "Ararat" is at once a mysterious and powerful story about determining truth. "Ararat" is an Alliance Atlantis and Serendipity Point Films presentation of an Atom Egoyan film in association with Ego Film Arts and ARP. "Ararat" is produced by Robert Lantos and Egoyan.

Yahoo News
11/18/02

In the limited-release arena, Miramax's "Ararat" had an impressive start. The feature grossed an estimated $162,000 from five venues. Helmed by Atom Egoyan, the drama, which focuses on the holocaust in the Ottoman Empire and the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, averaged a stout $32,400 per theater. In Glendale, Calif., which has a large Armenian population, the film played exceptionally well, with three straight days of sold-out shows.

IndieWire
11/18/02

DAILY NEWS: New Limited Release Films Top Box Office; and a Correction
by Eugene Hernandez and Brian Brooks/indieWIRE

"Amaro," "Ararat" and "Way Home" Debut Atop Limited Release Box Office

(indieWIRE: 11.19.02) -- It was a great weekend for a number of new releases with "The Crime of Father Amaro," "Ararat" and "Long Way Home" all making waves in their debut weekends.

Meanwhile from north of the border, Atom Egoyan's "Ararat" opened over the weekend in six screens with an astounding $211,130 take giving the Miramax film a lofty $35,188 per screen average. The Canadian-produced Toronto Film Festival opener deals with the effects of the Armenian massacre on the lives of two present-day families living in Toronto.

"These initial numbers are the first real vindication for our efforts to bring this untold chapter of history to the screen." commented "Ararat" producer Robert Lantos in a prepared statement yesterday. "The extraordinary response at the box office corroborates my conviction that there definitely is a commercial audience for a thought provoking film with substance."