On the specialized front, Bubble was a bust, making $70,664 at 32 locations for a paltry per site average of $2,208. Dubbed "Another Steven Soderbergh Experience," the $1.6 million crime drama was promoted more for its release strategy than the actual movie itself—a confounding trailer consisted solely of shots of doll parts in a factory.

Bubble producers Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner conflated the picture's theatrical, DVD and television distribution windows and released it mostly through channels they own: distributor Magnolia Pictures, Landmark Theaters (which comprised most of Bubble's screens) and the high definition television channel HDNet, on which Bubble aired Friday night. Bubble also hits DVD on Tuesday.

All told, Magnolia claimed an estimated $5 million in revenue from all sources for the weekend, the majority of which coming from DVDs shipped to retailers and not actual sales to consumers. Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles said that DVD orders were four to five times greater than the norm for an experimental art picture.

"Although we would have liked more theatrical performance, the overall revenue numbers were outstanding," said Bowles, likening Bubble's appeal to past low-grossing offbeat movies Gerry and Last Days. For a micro-budget movie with limited commercial potential, Bowles also pointed to "the accelerated timetable for getting our money back" as a benefit of the release strategy.

Magnolia's optimism aside, Bubble's box office points out how a simultaneous release on television and DVD effectively eliminates the theatrical window of revenue—people are more apt to choose the most convenient formats, which are TV and DVD—and, hence, reduces the overall revenue pie.
Viene a decir que, aunque no ha tenido mucho éxito (debido a que la gente prefiere formatos como la Tv o el Dvd), superará a otros "experimentos" cinematográficos como Gerry (la de Gus Van Sant) o Last days. Y además, como ha costado cuatro duros, recuperarán rápidamente lo invertido.

Yo, sinceramente, creo que en España ni llegará a estrenarse en salas.