Which film scored the highest per-theater average last weekend?

I’ll give you a hint – it didn’t star Tom Hanks, Chris Pine or Matthew McConaughey.

“The Brothers Bloom” notched an impressive $20,500 per theater average in its first weekend of release, according to Box Office Mojo.

That tally came from only a handful of theaters – four, to be exact.

The film, which opened the Starz Denver Film Festival last year, comes from “Brick” writer/director Rian Johnson.

(Photo: Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Mark Ruffalo get involved in one con after another in “The Brothers Bloom.”)

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Writer/director Rian Johnson of “Brick” fame attended one of the best film school’s in the country – the USC School of Cinematic arts.

George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis and John Wells (“ER“) all got their start at USC. Yet Johnson still credits the movies he shot in his formative years as his truest training.

“At film school you get to see good movies and hopefully make movies and meet people, but you really only learn how to make films by making them,” Johnson says, adding he wished he had snazzy software packages like Final Cut Pro as a teen.

The young writer/director isn’t in the same league as his school’s famous grads quite yet, but he didn’t have to work the film festival circuit to secure a deal for his latest film, “The Brothers Bloom,” which opened the Starz Denver Film Festival last week.

For “Brick,” Johnson attended the famed Sundance Film Festival to find a distributor. This time around, the festival circuit became a place where he could relax and watch audiences assess his movies.

“Now, it’s much more fun. It’s about getting the movie in front of audiences and seeing how it bounces off them,” he says. “Every audience has its own personality.”

As for “Bloom,” he admits the con man caper isn’t for everyone.

“You’re either on board and think its funny, or it’s absolutely annoying and you want to run out of the theater,” he says with a laugh.

No matter, since he has a soft spot for polarizing features, and ones which reflect his mindset. He didn’t have the kind of brotherly bond the lead characters share in “Bloom,” but the film does mirror the vibe he gets when he reunites with his own family.

“It’s controlled chaos,” he says. “Barely controlled chaos.”

PART ONE OF WWTW’s CHAT WITH RIAN JOHNSON

(Photo: The cast of “The Brothers Bloom” – Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Mark Ruffalo.)

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Hard to imagine a better way to kick off the 31st Starz Denver Film Festival than with “The Brothers Bloom.”

Writer/director Rian Johnson of “Brick” fame has deep Denver roots, and the film’s unbridled imagination is what film festivals should be all about.

“Bloom” stars Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo as brothers, natch, who have spent their whole lives conning others. They’re masters at their craft, but Bloom (Brody) can’t reconcile his crimes with his conscience any longer. Brother Stephen (Ruffalo) has no such qualms, as he proves when he targets a loopy millionaire named Penelope (Rachel Weisz) as their next mark.

Bloom begrudgingly goes along with the con. But he doesn’t plan on falling so hard, and so fast, for the lovely Penelope. And who wouldn’t? It’s impossible not to crush on the beguiling Weisz.

“Bloom” is far too tangled and convoluted to describe from this point on, but suffice to say the sly machinations behind “Brick” only hinted at Johnson’s film aspirations.

His new film offers a crash course in cinema humor, from the delightful Rinko Kikuchi of “Babel” fame as the brothers’ silent partner to so many visual gags the film begs for a second viewing.

Johnson’s artistry, and grasp of comedic timing, are shockingly high for a young filmmaker. Some will accuse him of cribbing elements from different directors – a little Wes Anderson here, a snippet of the Coens there. But he’s packaged “Bloom” as his very own vision, and if Tarantino can crib from his muses without being called a copycat, so can Johnson.

Audiences will have to swallow hard at some of the storytelling shortcuts taken in “Bloom.” Some character growth springs from thin air, and Penelope’s motives seem to change from scene to scene. But the action constantly tickles our senses, from Kikuchi’s noiseless mugging to the gorgeous backdrops of locales like Montenegro.

Brody’s career hasn’t been the same since he won a Best Actor Oscar for “The Pianist,” but he’s perfection here as the sad-sack Bloom. Wish the same can be said for Ruffalo.

The actor’s initial film performances drew favorable comparisons to Marlon Brando. Today, he’s revealed himself as a limited actor who should stick to films that fall more comfortably in his range. He isn’t bad in “Bloom,” but a more charismatic actor would have elevated the role of the wicked brother to delirious heights.

“The Brothers Bloom” opens in limited release next month, but will go wide in January. Check it out … and imagine what else Johnson has in store for audiences the next time around.

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