"After two solid weeks of limited release, Sony's Memoirs of a Geisha expands nationally on Friday widening from 52 to 1,547 theaters.

Last weekend, the PG-13 film averaged a ravishing $25,045 per location from select cities and now the studio hopes that ticket buyers across the country will be ready for a trip to Japan. Geisha is playing to an upscale audience that is more adult and more female. Comedy options from Rumor and The Family Stone will give adult women many options, but those looking for something more artistic and serious will opt for the Rob Marshall-directed pic.

And Brokeback Mountain expanding into more markets will steal away some of the arthouse crowd as well. But Geisha certainly looks different from every other film so it will stand out in a crowded marketplace. The studio, which has not had much luck at the box office in the second half of 2005, is hoping that it has a commercial winner on its hands. A four-day gross of roughly $9M may result giving Memoirs of a Geisha a total to date of $12M.

Source: BoxOfficeGuru."