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I think it did well enough to get a wider release, it certainly did well, but we don't know if that means it will be a success. a 29% increase between friday and saturday is not really a great number. (Note that I gave the wrong number for the other movie, which I have corrected below).

Here are all the limited-release movies for this weekend, and how their saturday compared to friday:

+168% - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
+156% - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
+29%  - Undefeated
+180% - Deiva Thirumagan
+221% - Life Above All
+76%  - Salvation Blvd.
+29%  - Lucky

As you can see, of the 7 reported new limited-release movies, Undefeated's saturday increase over friday was tied for the worst with Lucky, while the average increase was 154%, Undefeated only increase 29%.

You can argue whether this is good enough, I think it is for now, but don't act like you have some knowledge of "entertainment industry professionals" -- instead, go see what they are saying. For example, at the site where I got the numbers I use, they quote: "Undefeated, a portrait of Sarah Palin, grossed $65,700 at 10 screens with a fast start and diminishing returns."

Now, you can dismiss what "industry professionals" say if you'd like, by arguing they are liberals. But that's what they are saying. Since I'm not an industry professional, i can can only compare Undefeated to all the other similarly situated movies, and read what the industry professionals are saying, and report it.

Other than big blockbusters, most movies do much better on Saturday than Friday, because Friday people are at work. For example, Transformers (not a new release), did 133% better saturday than friday. Winnie the Pooh did 69% better. Cars 2 did 145% better. Horrible Bosses did 118% better.

Do you see the trend? The only movie which did less business saturday than friday was Harry Potter, and that's because they opened friday at midnight, so the friday numbers include "thursday" viewings that were sold out.

If we exclude Harry Potter, the average for wide-release movies that were reported in both friday and saturday numbers was 119% increase, and for limited-release it was 154%.

I don't think this is that hard to understand. In terms of the numbers, a 29% increase from friday-saturday is NOT a good number. It isn't close to average for movies released this weekend, and of the movies that had numbers released friday and saturday, 29% is in the bottom three.

This doesn't mean Undefeated isn't a "success", or that it won't get a wider release. But it's absurd to say that a 29% increase is a "cause for celebration". That flies in the face of the simple facts as shown by the actual numbers. Sorry.

I want this movie to be a success. I want to to get released into theaters in my area. But we shouldn't ignore the facts, because the people in business to make money won't. As I said, I do think the numbers are good enough to get a wider release, so from that measure it was a "success".