Brokeback continues to win the heartland

In its fifth weekend in U.S. theaters, Ang Lee's heartbreaking gay romance Brokeback Mountain continues to rack up impressive numbers all over the country. Variety reports that the film's weekend take was an impressive $11,856 per screen, for a weekend total of $5.7 million, placing the film in the weekend's Top 10 despite playing on just 483 screens. Brokeback had grossed $22.4 million as of Monday. While some analysts doubted the film's popularity outside of urban centers with dense gay populations, this past weekend saw the film doing great business in cities like Tulsa, Okla.; Des Moines, Iowa; and El Paso and Lubbock, Texas.

BoxOfficeMojo.com reports that Brokeback's expulsion from a theater in suburban Salt Lake City had little to no impact on the film's weekend gross; in fact, one of the top nationwide earners for the movie was Salt Lake City's Broadway Centre Cinemas, which made $18,823 over the weekend. Two other theaters in the area also reported healthy Brokeback grosses. Regarding the pulling of the film from the Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons by Larry H. Miller, who owns the megaplex as well as the NBA's Utah Jazz, Focus Features distribution chief Jack Foley told BoxOfficeMojo, "It's the most despicable practice that any exhibitor can do. It was a flagrant dismissal of a commitment, and without even a phone call. So I'm not in business with him anymore. It's a breach of contract. It's unethical. We can sue him." The site also notes that Transamerica, which had been listed on the Megaplex 17's "Coming Soon" list, has vanished from the schedule. (Advocate.com)