Is this the biggest average ever for a limited release? "I've got two asterisks for you," Blake explained. "The first asterisk is that for over two runs, it certainly is the biggest -- with one exception. And that's (Disney's) Pocahontas, which had a stage show in both New York and L.A. (and averaged $448,286 per theater with six runs the weekend of June 16-18, 1995). But other than that, you can find a couple of (films with) two runs (that averaged more). For instance, (Fox's) Moulin Rouge had two runs at $83,000 average. But for over two runs and noting the one exception on Pocahontas, this is the biggest."

Punch-Drunk Love is playing this weekend, he said, "in New York with two runs, L.A. with two runs and Toronto (at one theater). We'll be expanding (this Friday) to introduce it to several more cities and then going wider on Oct. 25 and wider still on Nov. 1. But this week, probably in the neighborhood of 85 runs in 11 cities."

"We're playing just about the same number of seats in all five of these complexes," Revolution partner Tom Sherak said Sunday morning. "They're all somewhere between 750 and 800 seats. They're all about the same (in terms of grosses). In the Union Square (in New York), Friday was $26,100. Saturday was $30,800. The Paramount (in Toronto) was $26,600 (Friday) and Saturday was $27,700. Lincoln Square (in New York) was $20,800 (Friday) and then $27,600.

"The Grove (in L.A.) was $25,300 (Friday) and then $26,500. And the Criterion (in Santa Monica) was $19,500 (Friday) and then $25,000. They're the same numbers in the same seats. That's what to me is amazing. It means that the capacity is all there at night and they're playing to the same amount of people wherever it is. Toronto sometimes can fall behind New York, but not (in this case)."

Wherever Punch-Drunk Love has played to date, Sherak added, the critics have loved it: "It was in the Toronto Film Festival. It was the centerpiece in the New York Film Festival. I don't know a picture this year that's gotten the kind of overall reviews this picture's gotten. Time and Newsweek, Rolling Stone, L.A. Times, New York Times -- they're all great reviews. You're going to see that more and more. It's critically acclaimed. It's just incredible."

Screen Gems' opening of its R rated romantic drama Swept Away made no box office waves, drowning with an ESTIMATED $0.375 million at 196 theaters ($1,913 per theater).

Directed by Guy Ritchie, it stars Madonna, Adriano Giannini, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Bruce Greenwood.

"Nobody gets hurt in this one," Sony's Jeff Blake said. "This was an $11 million negative, which we took a very cautious releasing strategy on. Really, there's no major exposure to anybody in this."

United Artists' R rated satiric documentary Bowling For Columbine opened via MGM to a high scoring ESTIMATED $0.21 million at 8 theaters in New York and L.A. ($25,750 per theater).

Written, produced and directed by Michael Moore, it won the Special Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Miramax's Dimension Films opened its R rate horror film Below to a below par ESTIMATED $0.2 million at 168 theaters ($1,190 per theater).

Directed by David Twohy, it stars Matt Davis and Bruce Greenwood.

Miramax's R rated comedy Comedian opened to a very funny ESTIMATED $61,000 at 4 theaters ($15,250 per theater).

Directed by Christian Charles, it stars Jerry Seinfeld.