‘Hereafter’ off to good start

Among new pictures in limited release this weekend, moviegoers preferred a tale of the afterlife over one about a man saved from it.

The Clint Eastwood-directed drama “Hereafter,” in which Matt Damon leads an ensemble cast exploring life after death, opened to a solid $231,000 at six theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto.

A strong start in a small number of theaters is no guarantee that a movie will be a hit with broad audiences. However, it could generate positive buzz ahead of “Hereafter’s” nationwide release Friday. And while reviews were mixed, Warner Bros. got good notices from several major newspapers that it can now use in advertisements.

On a per-theater basis, the opening was slightly better than that of Eastwood’s 2008 movie “ Changeling,” which opened at 15 locations in October before launching across the country. It ultimately grossed only $35.7 million.

“Conviction,” a real-life drama starring Hilary Swank as a woman who freed her wrongfully convicted brother from prison, grossed less than half of what “Hereafter” did despite playing at five more theaters. Its $110,000 debut is a soft start as the film expands in coming weeks, though Fox Searchlight head of distribution Sheila DeLoache said she was confident word of mouth would be very good.

The John Lennon biopic “Nowhere Boy” expanded from four to 215 theaters and flopped, bringing in only $353,259.