In September 2011, Kevin Hart did something stand-up comics had mostly stopped attempting: he put his act in movie theaters and dared people to buy tickets. Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain, filmed on his national tour and released by Codeblack Entertainment, opened on September 9 in just 98 locations.
It took in about $1.9 million that first weekend, averaging close to $19,500 per screen, the best opening for a stand-up film since Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat in 2002. By the end of its run it had earned roughly $7.7 million in the U.S., a remarkable number for a concert film with a modest rollout.
The numbers matched what was happening on the road. Earlier that year Hart sold out two nights at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre, and Ticketmaster had him at the top of its comedy rankings. Laugh at My Pain was the moment the industry noticed that the small comic from Philadelphia had become an arena act, and it set up everything that followed, from Let Me Explain to stadium tours.
Sources: The Numbers, The Comic’s Comic.
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