How popular is "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"?

• A colleague went to see the movie on a recent Saturday afternoon figuring that he'd have no problem getting in. After all, the comedy had been playing here for five weeks.

Instead, he reported, the screening was so crowded he ended up sitting in the third row from the screen.

• A reader called to complain that she'd tried to see the movie four times and seems always to hit sold-out shows.

• In response to the crowds, AMC's big Studio 30 megaplex has moved "Greek Wedding" out of one of its smaller auditoriums into one of its four largest houses.

In defiance of the usual fate of today's movies -- open big, then watch ticket sales quickly taper off -- "Greek Wedding's" box office numbers keep improving. The movie just passed the $30 million mark, not bad for a film made for a measly $5 million.

"Here's what I think is happening," said Nia Vardalos, who wrote and stars in the comedy about the wallflower daughter of a Greek immigrant family who blossoms when she falls in love. "Apparently everyone who sees it tells four of their friends to see it. Everyone can relate to it because everyone has a family. And they've all tried to plan something -- a wedding, funeral, a picnic -- and run up against the crazy things their family throws at them."

The July 15-21 issue of Variety reports that attendance at "Wedding" increased a phenomenal 25 percent over the previous week. Its per-screen average -- the average amount of money taken in by each auditorium showing the film -- was $5,028. Only the just-released "Men in Black II," "Mr. Deeds" and "Like Mike" had a better per-screen average.

What makes those figures doubly impressive is that "Wedding" had been playing for 12 weeks.

Vardalos, who earlier this summer visited KC with co-star John Corbett to promote the film, said in a phone conversation from her Los Angeles home that the film's success had transformed her acting career.

"The offers I'm getting now are incredible," said Vardalos, a Canadian who once performed with Second City troupes in Toronto and Chicago. "I'm being asked to audition for roles where before they wouldn't let me butter the bagels at the snack table. Now I've got a whole stack of scripts to go through."

She's also thinking about writing a "Wedding" sequel.

"I'd never really considered it. But people keep coming up to me and wanting to know what happens next. So, who knows...?"

Vardalos said that she's not rich and probably won't be (Hollywood bookkeeping, she notes, ensures that even the most popular films somehow never make a profit) but that for the first time in her life she's being recognized in the street. Which is both nice and a little unsettling.

"I took two weeks off and went to Greece," she said. "I figured I'd be able to escape all the craziness. So I'm lying there on the beach, not realizing that Greece is full of American tourists who have seen the movie.

"A woman runs up to me and says, `I love your movie. Can I take your picture?'

"And I said, `Can I put my top on first?' "