Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

The overall box office still has a case of the doldrums but a couple of new specialty movies this weekend had robust openings. Summit scored with its rollout of The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, averaging a stellar $61K. That’s the fourth best per-theater average of the year. Perks brought out young females in droves, with women making up 70% of audiences and 60% were under 25. Summit also boasted that Perks was also the company’s highest per-screen debut for any Summit title. Samuel Goldwyn Films’ doc Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel also showed gusto in its debut, averaging a stylish $21,413. IFC Films bravely took on How To Survive A Plague, a doc exploring the AIDS crisis from the standpoint of activist group ACT-UP. It averaged a softish $7K. Sundance Selects will open Survive in VOD on September 28th.

Among holdovers, last week’s record-breaking debut The Master held solid in its second weekend after a sizable expansion. The Weinstein Company added 783 theaters, grossing $5 million and a solid $6,345 average. Roadside Attractions took Arbitrage into 244 locations from 197 last weekend. The film averaged a solid $5,221. Noted a Roadside Attractions spokesperson: “The film held up very well and in particular went up 78% Friday to Saturday. ” IFC Films added 16 theaters for Liberal Arts in its second weekend. It grossed $40K in 20 theaters for a very soft $2K average.

Variance did not release figures for Head Games.

NEW

Backwards (Dada Films) NEW [5 Theaters] Weekend $22,900, Average $4,580

Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best (Oscilloscope Laboratories) NEW [2 Theaters] Weekend $6,537, Average $3,269

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (Samuel Goldwyn Films) NEW [3 Theaters] Weekend $64,238, Average $21,413

Hellbound? (Area 23a) NEW [4 Theaters] Weekend $4,275, Average $1,069

How To Survive A Plague (Sundance Selects) NEW [4 Theaters] Weekend $28K, Average $7K

My Uncle Rafael (Rocky Mountain Pictures) NEW [14 Theaters] Weekend $100,210, Average $7,158

Occupy Unmasked (Magnolia Pictures) NEW [4 Theaters] Weekend $44K, Average $11K

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (Summit Entertainment) [4 Theaters] Weekend $244K, Average $61K

Unconditional (Independent) NEW [350 Theaters] Weekend $546K, Average $1,560

RETURNING / 2ND WEEKEND

10 Years (Anchor Bay) Week 2 [43 Theaters] Weekend $78,109, Average $1,816, Cume $109,203

Arbitrage (Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate) Week 2 [244 Theaters] Weekend $1,283,900, Average $5,262, Cume $3,952,407

Last Ounce Of Courage (Rocky Mountain Pictures) Week 2 [1,064 Theaters] Weekend $546,964, Average $514, Cume $2,749,150

Liberal Arts (IFC Films) Week 2 [20 Theaters] Weekend $40K, Average $2K, Cume $78K

The Master (The Weinstein Company) Week 2 [788 Theaters] Weekend $5M, Average $6,345, Cume $6.055,883

Stolen (Nu Image/Millennium Films) Week 2 [99 Theaters] Weekend $32,508, Average $328, Cume $288,007

HOLDOVERS / 3RD+ WEEKENDS

Bachelorette (Radius-TWC) Week 3 [34 Theaters] Weekend $24,770, Average $726, Cume $419,628

Detropia (Loki Films) Week 3 [11 Theaters] Weekend $37,200, Average $3,382, Cume $131,415

Hello I Must Be Going (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Week 3 [15 Theaters] Weekend $22,937, Average $1,529, Cume $67,314

Keep The Lights On (Music Box Films) Week 3 [8 Theaters] Weekend $22,561, Average $2,820, Cume $149,802

The Words (CBS Films) Week 3 [1,247 Theaters] Weekend $775K, Average $621, Cume $11,019,571

The Bullet Vanishes (China Lion) Week 4 [2 Theaters] Weekend $3K, Average $1,500, Cume $116K

For A Good Time, Call… (Focus Features) Week 4 [105 Theaters] Weekend $147,644, Average $1,406, Cume $1,091,583

Little Birds (Millennium Films) Week 3 [2 Theaters] Weekend $4,031, Average $ 2,016 Cume $16,594

Samsara (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Week 5 [59 Theaters] Weekend $197,821, Average $3,353, Cume $1,155,761

Sleepwalk With Me (IFC Films) Week 5 [135 Theaters] Weekend $297K Average $2,200, Cume $1,697,000

Robot & Frank (Samuel Goldwyn Films) Week 6 [156 Theaters] Weekend $198,120, Average $1,270, Cume $2,901,568

Nitro Circus Movie (Arc Entertainment) Week 7 [7 Theaters] Weekend $1,800, Average $257, Cume $3,371,000

Celeste And Jesse Forever (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 8 [54 Theaters] Weekend $50,794, Average $941, Cume $3,020,855

Killer Joe (LD Entertainment) Week 9 [70 Theaters] Weekend $46,242, Average $661, Cume $1,899,961

Searching For Sugar Man (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 9 [38 Theaters] Weekend $100,868, Average $2,654, Cume $1,193,669

2016 Obama’s America (Rocky Mountain Pictures) Week 11 [1,216 Theaters] Weekend $917,551, Average $755, Cume $32,002,626

Beasts Of The Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight) Week 13 [132 Theaters] Weekend $125,700, Average $952, Cume $10,904,926

To Rome With Love (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 14 [50 Theaters] Weekend $57,548, Average $1,151, Cume $16,531,214

Safety Not Guaranteed (FilmDistrict) Week 16 [40 Theaters] Weekend $19K, Average $475, Cume $3,956,915

Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features) Week 18 [120 Theaters] Weekend $128,961, Average $1,075, Cume $45,153,468

The Intouchables (The Weinstein Company) Week 24 [156 Theaters] Weekend $182K, Average $1,167, Cume $12,253,558

For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...