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Specialty Box Office: Sony Classics Scores With ‘No’, Holdover Doc ‘Gatekeepers’ Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday February 17, 2013 @ 10:19am PSTTags: No, Specialty Box Office, The Gatekeepers

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie Films2013 has been blasé at best for specialty box office. Thank goodness for the likes of Amour and Quartet. Although the first six weeks of the year have been otherwise dismal, it’s been good for Sony Pictures Classics. This weekend SPC scored with its Chilean Oscar-nominated feature No with an $18,619 average from four theaters. Thedistrib has also fared well with multiple Academy Award nominee Amour, which undertook a major expansion going into its third month in release, and its holdover Oscar-nominated documentary The Gatekeepers has maintained momentum. The Weinstein Company’s Quartet added more venues in its sixth weekend, actually increasing its per screen average from the previous weekend. Newcomers this weekend included Sundance Selects’ (IFC Films) Like Someone In Love, which bowed in three cinemas, averaging $7,615. The distributor, which also rolled out The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, which is available on VOD and was a midnight screening at the IFC Theater in New York exclusively, declined to report figures. READ MORE »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘Charles Swan III’ Tops Newcomers; ‘Amour’, ‘Quartet’ Hold Steady

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday February 10, 2013 @ 10:32am PSTTags: A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III, Amour, Lore, Quartet, Specialty Box Office, The Playroom

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie Films

The Weinstein Company’s Quartet and Sony Pictures Classics’ Amour held steady in their expansions this weekend, while Zeitgeist’s Koch and Sony Classics’ The Gatekeepers remained solid in their … Read More »

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Specialty B.O.: Healthy Debuts For ‘Koch’, ‘The Gatekeepers’; Dave Grohl’s ‘Sound City’ No. 1 Doc On iTunes

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday February 3, 2013 @ 10:36am PSTTags: Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

Indie Films

More than one New York newscaster half-joked that former NYC mayor Ed Koch upstaged his own movie’s debut this weekend. Koch came in to lead the city at one of its lowest points in the late ’70s — it was on the verge of bankruptcy — but came to typify its brash in your face resilience and becoming a household name around the country via movies and television long after he left office. At 88, Koch died in the early hours Friday morning as the doc about Hizzoner bowed in two New York theaters later that day. It did solid business, but considering the windfall of media coverage on its own turf, the movie performed respectably with a $20K average. But the weekend topper in limited debuts belonged to Sony Pictures Classics’ The Gatekeepers which opened in three theaters in New York and LA, averaging $22,226. And Dave Grohl’s Sundance doc Sound City followed up a slew of one-nighters around the country this week, opening in 16 theaters with a modest average of $4,375. Grohl planned to take the movie out quickly across multiple platforms following its Sundance premiere and fans apparently decided to access it outside theaters — it was the No. 1 documentary for the weekend on iTunes.

“When added to Thursday evening’s gross of $120,514 (Sound City played 50 special screenings across the country, many for one night only and mostly sold out, on 1/31), the cume gross to date is $190,514 after just 4 days,” according to Sound City’s theatrical distributor Variance Films. The company had its box office messaging in mind today: “We’re not playing the per-screen game on this one — per Dave’s orders, we’re bringing it to the people, no funny stuff — so that per screen includes everything from a $14,000 weekend gross at LA’s Sundance Sunset Cinemas with most of the shows sold out in advance to a $270 gross for a (also sold out) single screening in a 30 seat theatre in NJ.”
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Specialty B.O.: ‘John Dies At The End’, ‘Happy People’, ‘Yossi’ Bow So-So, Holdovers ‘Amour’, ‘Quartet’ Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday January 27, 2013 @ 10:30am PSTTags: Amour, Happy People: A Year In The Taiga, John Dies At The End, LUV, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

Marquee specialty newcomers were at a minimum this weekend, continuing a pattern that began with the New Year. Among the limited release debuts reporting Sunday, both Happy People: A Year In The Taiga from Werner Herzog and Israeli director Eytan Fox’s Yossi reported fair openings, while Magnolia Pictures’ John Dies At The End showed more momentum in its LA debut at one location with $13,500 making it the top opener among the specialties. Music Box Films’ Happy People opened at IFC Center in New York, grossing $9,882, while Strand Releasing’s Yossi bowed in two cinemas, taking in $13,208 for a $6,604 average. Among holdovers, Indomina’s LUV subtracted 24 theaters in the film’s second weekend, grossing $18K for a slight $857 average. Oscar hopeful Amour meanwhile held solid in another expansion and TWC’s Quartet also held robust numbers after adding 131 theaters. IFC Films’ Knife Fight, starring Rob Lowe as a poltical strategist, split $1,200 for the weekend between two theaters in LA and New York.

Siberian-set documentary Happy People: A Year In The Taiga bowed at NYC’s IFC Center with a so-so $9,882 that single location. Werner Herzog is a giant among documentary filmmakers, but the film, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2010, opened theatrically over the weekend in the shadow of the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s 2011 release Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, which opened with an average of $27,820 in five theaters, though his Into The Abyss – also a 2011 release — only totaled $223,880 domestically. Music Box Films will add six markets including Los Angeles on February 15th and will expand to Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and San Diego on February 22.  Read More »

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Specialty B.O.: Dustin Hoffman’s ‘Quartet’ Bows Solidly, Oscar-Nom ‘Amour’ Strong

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday January 13, 2013 @ 10:50am PSTTags: Amour, Quartet, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

Quartet crooned atop the specialty newcomers for its opening in two theaters. Tribeca Film’s Struck By Lightning starring Glee‘s Chris Colfer and Phase Four Films’ The Baytown Outlaws with Billy Bob Thornton and Eva Longoria have yet to report their numbers, but if/when they do, they’ll have stiff competition from Quartet which also happens to be Dustin Hoffman’s official feature directing debut. In a pair of runs in NYC and LA, the film averaged a solid $25,017. Zeitgeist had a tougher time with its foreign-language release Let My People Go! The boutique distributor opened the film about a French-born Jewish man who ends up back with his zany family in Paris after a quarrel with his Finnish boyfriend at a single NYC venue that took in an estimated $2,299 for the weekend weekend.

Quartet had a short awards-qualifying run last month, but came into its theatrical own in the second weekend of the New Year at the Paris Theater in New York and the Landmark in Los Angeles. Quartet star Maggie Smith gave a little jab to the film establishment last year in the wake of one of her last big screen success, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, saying Hollywood treats cinema-goers like “5-year-olds.” TWC said its core audience would be “mature” for Quartet and the film had a good rollout. Downton Abbey‘s Dowager Countess knows best. Quartet‘s next expansion will be to 75 markets and about  350 locations January 25.

Sony Pictures Classics widened its Oscar Best Picture and Best Foreign-Langue Film nominee Amour to 15 theaters after three weeks with hefty runs in only three locations. The film, which was honored last night at the LA Film Crtitics Association event in Century City, held strong with an $18,038 average vs last weekend’s $21,199. Lionsgate moved The Impossible into 236 additional runs in its 4th weekend for a PTA of $3,156 across 808 cinemas. In 572 theaters last weekend the film averaged $4,852.
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Specialty Box Office: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Rakes In $46K Per Theater, ‘Amour’ Strong, Newbie ‘56 Up’ Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday January 6, 2013 @ 10:57am PSTTags: Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

On the cusp of going wide, Zero Dark Thirty headed into 55 additional theaters in the first weekend of 2013, maintaining its dazzling momentum. ZDT averaged $45,833 versus $65K per location … Read More »

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Specialty B.O.: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, ‘Amour’ Stellar In 2nd Weekend; ‘West Of Memphis’ OK In Debut, ‘Promised Land’ Soft

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday December 30, 2012 @ 10:24am PSTTags: Amour, Promised Land, Specialty Box Office, West Of Memphis, Zero Dark Thirty

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

Sony/Columbia Pictures’ limited-run engagement of Zero Dark Thirty showed impressive stamina, and the studio’s specialty market distributor Sony Pictures Classics also had great news for Amour but not so great news for newcommer West Of Memphis in three-day estimates for the pre-New Year’s weekend, while Focus Features debut Promised Land bowed modestly. Columbia Pictures’ Zero Dark Thirty averaged a muscular $65K per location in its sophomore weekend in 5 theaters compared with $82K per cinema last weekend. Sony Classics’ Palme d’Or winner and Oscar short-listed foreign-language hopeful Amour held steady in three theaters in its second weekend, averaging a very strong $20K vs. its $23,554 average debut. Specialty market newcomers Promised Land, starring Matt Damon, John Krasinski and Frances McDormand headed into 25 theaters, averaging $7,606, while Sony Classics’ doc West Of Memphis managed a slender $2,771 per run in 5 cinemas. SPC’s other non-fiction offering Searching For Sugar Man, now in its 23rd weekend of release, passed the $3 million milestone this weekend. An additional newcomer, Adopt Films’ Tabu, took in $5,300 in one theater. Read More »

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Specialty B.O.: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Scores Powerful $82K Per Theater’; ‘Amour’ Strong, ‘On The Road’, ‘The Impossible’ Soft

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday December 23, 2012 @ 9:52am PSTTags: Amour, Not Fade Away, On The Road, Specialty Box Office, The Impossible

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty opened Wednesday with the highest-ever midweek per-theater debut at $24,969 and 5-theater opening-day total of $124,848 and it’s having a great pre-Christmas weekend. Sony’s decision to delay the movie’s release until after the presidential election and to go with a limited debut appears to have paid off. The controversial but critically praised heavyweight grossed a whopping $410K at only five locations and handily won the highest per screen average of any film in theatrical release with $82,000. That is just shy of Lincoln’s $85,846 average when it opened in 11 theaters in early November and it is well ahead of Bigelow’s Oscar winner The Hurt Locker‘s $36,338 average when it opened in 4 theaters in June of 2009. Named Best Picture by a slew of critics groups including The New York Film Critics Circle, Zero Dark Thirty will head to wide release January 11th, the day after Oscar nominations are announced.

Related: Acting CIA Chief: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Is “Not A Realistic Portrayal”

Sony Pictures Classics’ Palme d’Or and LA Film Critics winner Amour bowed solidly this weekend — the only new title among specialty films to fare so well. Amour averaged $23,554 in three theaters in its platform debut. Smaller audiences went along for the ride with IFC Films’ On The Road despite its star power. Road averaged $10,800 in 4 locations. Lionsgate-Summit’s The Impossible averaged a middling $9,250 from 15 theaters, while Paramount Vantage’s Not Fade Away took an average of $6,333 in three runs.

Amour’s arrival had momentum with its Cannes Film Festival win and other accolades, but its tough subject matter – a husband and wife confronting mortality – nevertheless made it a challenge. Its weekend average topped director Michael Haneke’s previous Palme d’Or winner The White Ribbon, which opened with a $19,949 average in three theaters in 2009 and far outpaced his $11,402 opening average for Cache in 2005. SPC co-president Michael Barker Read More »

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Specialty B.O.: ‘Hyde Park On Hudson’ Solid In 2nd Weekend, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ Steady, Newcomer ‘Any Day Now’ Soft

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday December 16, 2012 @ 11:07am PSTTags: Any Day Now, Silver Linings Playbook, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

Numbers trickling in point to a soft weekend in the specialty arena. Music Box Films bowed in 16 theaters a brave story starring Alan Cumming about a gay couple fighting to retain custody of special needs child they reared. Any Day Now is a brave film and story that earned audience prizes at festivals throughout the year. Unfortunately it did not connect fully with paying audiences in its debut but hopefully its audience will build through word-of-mouth. It averaged only $2,563 per location. On December 21 it will expand to 6 additional markets and Music Box expects 50 by February. Cavu Pictures/Snag Films debuted Let Fury Have The Hour at New York’s Quad Cinema with an estimated $3,200. After the New Year it will expand to San Francisco January 18th and to Los Angeles on the 25th. IFC Films reported Save The Date opened in single cinemas in Los Angeles and New York for an average of $2,000.

Focus Features moved Bill Murray starrer Hyde Park On Hudson into 32 more theaters from its debut last week. The pic averaged a solid $8,261 versus its $20,820 opening average in 4 locations. Focus said it will continue adding markets on the 21st and with more to come in the New Year. Kudos to The Weinstein  Company’s Oscar hopeful Silver Linings Playbook. It stayed in 371 theaters in its 5th weekend, averaging $5,617, a minimal drop from $6,032 last weekend. The feature from writer/director David O. Russell had a strong opening in mid-November and has held up fairly well in its steady rollout.  Read More »

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Specialty B.O.: ‘Hyde Park On Hudson’ Hot In Debut; ‘Rust And Bone’ Still Strong

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday December 9, 2012 @ 10:14am PSTTags: Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of Movieline.

Hyde Park On Hudson bowed regally in 4 locations over the weekend, topping the specialty release newcomers. Starring Bill Murray as America’s longest serving President, the Roger Michell-directed feature averaged $20,820. Other openers bowed with less gusto. Tribeca Films’ The Fitzgerald Family Christmas with Ed Burns averaged a slight $3,450 in 4 theaters. Cinedigm’s In Our Nature opened in one location with $4,378. Oscilloscope bowed a pair of features, Only The Young and the challenging to pronounce Tchoupitoulas in a single cinema each, grossing $2K and $3K respectively. And Strand Releasing opened California Solo in two locations with a modest $2,612 average.

“Hyde played well to older art house audiences this weekend,” a Focus spokesperson said today. “The top grossing theaters (Lincoln Square/NY, Landmark/LA) traditionally attract adult audiences – particularly at matinee and early prime time shows – which is when Hyde really popped.” Focus CEO James Schamus told me this week they plan to follow a “classic aggressive platform release,” hitting 15 markets and 28 theaters next weekend. It will move out further on the 21st and continue its rollout into the New Year.

Tribeca Films’ Fitzgerald will head to 15 locations next weekend, concentrating in South FL and Chicago. Ed Burns will be Skypeiing in with audiences during showings. Tribeca Film noted that a Saturday evening show in Huntington, Long Island sold out, and the movie had “solid performances in otherwise lower grossing suburban areas.” The movie’s also available on VOD and is currently one of the top 5 most popular Independent films on iTunes, according to the distributor.

Among holdovers, SPC’s Rust And Bone added two theaters in its third round and even had an uptick in its per screen average, which came in at $13,709. Last weekend it averaged $12,912 in two locations. Also holding solid is fellow Oscar hopeful Silver Linings Playbook, which held reasonably steady in 371 theaters, dropping 28% from the week prior. And Focus added 38 theaters for its awards contender Anna Karenina. It averaged 3,644 vs. last weekend’s $5,806. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: Holdovers ‘Silver Linings Playbook’, ‘Rust And Bone’ Solid; Newcomers So-so

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday December 2, 2012 @ 11:12am PSTTags: Hecho En Mexico, Rust & Bone, Silver Linings Playbook, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

Oscar contenders Silver Linings Playbook and Rust And Bone held solid in the specialty realm as they expanded. The overall box office had dreadful debuts from TWC’s Killing Me Softly and LD Entertainment’s The Collection. But Weinstein’s David O. Russell-directed Silver Linings held nicely with a per-theater average of just over $9K as the movie added four cinemas in its third weekend. Sony Pictures Classics’ Rust And Bone remained in two theaters in its second weekend, averaging a robust $12,912, only a slight dip from last weekend’s opening.

Related: OSCARS Q&A – Marion Cotillard

Fox Searchlight’s Hitchcock, meanwhile, added 33 locations, averaging $8,111 and will add 26 cities next weekend. “There appears to be evidence that word of mouth may be starting to take hold as the film begins to roll out, noted Searchlight’s Frank Rodriguez. “The film, directed by Sacha Gervasi, appears to be gaining some momentum as the performances of Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins continue to impress audiences.” Focus Features added 318 theaters for Anna Karenina. Its $5,806 average was decent and its nearly $2.3 million gross placed it 17th in the overall box office, just behind Silver Linings Playbook and two spots behind wide release debut The Collection.

Related: Weinstein Finds ‘Silver Linings’ For Oscar Race

Among newcomers, Pantelion Films-Lionsgate’s Hecho En México arrived in a dozen theaters and an average of $6,500. The Independent/Film Buff Ex-Girlfriends had a New York City debut at Cinema Village, taking in $2,500. The self-described “micro-budget” feature also rolled out on digital platforms. China Lion’s Adrien Brody and Tim Robbins starrer Back To 1942 averaged a slight $5K in 20 theaters. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘Silver Linings Playbook’, ‘Anna Karenina’ Shine In Debuts

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday November 18, 2012 @ 9:35am PSTTags: Anna Karenina, Price Check, Silver Linings Playbook, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is Managing Editor of MovieLine.

The Specialty market received a shot in the arm with the debuts of TWC’s Silver Linings Playbook and Focus Features’ Anna Karenina. Both Oscar contenders bowed at 16 theaters and scored well with audiences. Playbook won the numbers game with a robust $28,652 per theater average. In the overall box office, it came in second only to Breaking Dawn Part 2 in terms of theater average. Anna Karenina had a $19,712 PTA, also a very solid start for the Joe Wright-directed feature that has accumulated nearly $10.6 million in foreign B.O. to date. IFC Films’ Parker Posey starrer Price Check, meanwhile, opened more tepidly with a $2,300 average at IFC Center. The film played a smaller theater at the downtown Manhattan venue although most seats were filled. Filmmaker Michael Walker was on-hand for post-screening Q&As. The filmmakers will continue to tour with Price Check, which is currently available on VOD and iTunes, with stops in San Francisco next weekend and Austin on November 30.
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Specialty B.O.: ‘Chasing Ice’ Doc Hot; ‘Royal Affair’, ‘The Comedy’, ‘Starlet’ So-So

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday November 11, 2012 @ 10:20am PSTTags: A Royal Affair, Chasing Ice, In Another Country, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

Chasing Ice froze out the specialty competition among newcomers on this Skyfall weekend. The documentary released by sales company Submarine’s distribution label grossed $21,000 in a single theater, NYC’s Cinema Village. The company’s Dan Braun noted the film had a big promotional push from key groups including North Face. Advanced group sales were significant. Specialty Box OfficeOther titles fared comparatively soft in their launches, with one distrib suggesting that the Skyfall juggernaut and Lincoln — which averaged $81,818 across 11 cinemas — had attracted a sizable chunk of specialty business. Magnolia’s A Royal Affair averaged $5,714 in 7 locations, while Music Box’s Starlet averaged $2,670 from 6. Kino Lorber’s Isabella Huppert-starrer In Another Country debuted in a single location with $3,500, and Tribeca Film’s The Comedy took in $6K at one cinema. Cinedigm/Flat Iron did not report figures for Citadel.

Chasing Ice next will next uptown to the Elinor Brunin Munroe Film Center and expand into 10 additional markets next week. “We’re doing a fairly traditional release with VOD planned later,” said Submarine’s Dan Braun. “The film is obviously striking a chord with the current interest in climate change.”

Magnolia’s A Royal Affair debuted in seven theaters with a total gross of $40K. The Berlinale debut has grossed more than $6 million worldwide, but its appeal in the U.S. is still unclear. “It’s performed terrifically in other English territories including UK and Australia…” noted Magnolia’s Matt Cowal. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘Cafe De Flore’, ‘A Late Quartet’ Lead Pack Of Newcomers

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday November 4, 2012 @ 10:44am PSTTags: A Late Quartet, Cafe De Flore, Specialty Box Office, The Bay, The Sessions, This Must Be The Place

Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

Specialty movies openers bowed mostly middling at at best, and a couple of pictures may have suffered residual Hurricane Sandy trauma. Adopt Films’ Café De Flore took the per-theater-average crown with $10K in one location. Entertainment One’s A Late Quartet bowed in 9 theaters with a fairly solid average of 8,433, although the distributor suggested the figure was lower than it might have been if The Sunshine in Manhattan’s Lower East Side had been able to re-open sooner. The cinema regained power midday Saturday. TWC’s This Must Be The Place hit the skids with a $3,526 average in a pair of locations, while Radius’ The Details managed only a modest $1,427 average. Roadside/Lionsgate’s art-thriller The Bay bottomed out with a $932 average from 23 theaters. But Anchor Bay’s Vamps fizzled with $500 in one theater. Magnolia Pictures opted not to report numbers for its opener Jack And Diane because it didn’t open in NYC until today because of the continuing aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
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Specialty B.O.: ‘Loneliest Planet’ Leads Debuts; ‘Sessions, ‘Holy Motors’ Hold Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday October 28, 2012 @ 10:26am PDTTags: Holy Motors, Specialty Box Office, The Loneliest Planet, The Sessions

Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

Newcomers and holdovers came in flat in an unmemorable weekend for Specialty Box Office. The Loneliest Planet bowed solid with a $10,200 average in two locations. Sundance Selects will take the movie starring Gael García Bernal to the top 15 markets in the next two weeks. Rocky Mountain Pictures, the group that brought on this year’s record-breaking doc 2016: Obama’s America, debuted District Of Corruption in three theaters, averaging $7,374 for the weekend’s second-best showing among the titles reporting. Cohen Media Group’s The Other Son debuted in 41 theaters, averaging just over $3K. Radius’ theatrical debut of Pusher landed with a thud, taking in just over $5K in 14 locations. The TWC multiplatform label stressed that its VOD run is primary, but did not report figures. The distributor’s co-head Tom Quinn said, “It’s done great on VOD. On its face it’s about the genre and its gotten good traction.” Among holdovers, Fox Searchlight’s The Sessions expanded strongly, with a weekend best theater asverage of $11,500. Indomina’s Holy Motors remained in in two theaters but held steady with a average of $7,648. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘The Sessions’ Tops Debuts; ‘Holy Motors’, ‘Brooklyn Castle’, ‘The Flat’ Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday October 21, 2012 @ 9:40am PDTTags: Brooklyn Castle, Holy Motors, Specialty Box Office, The Flat, The Sessions

Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

Fox Searchlight’s highly anticipated The Sessions starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy debuted with a robust $30,100 average in its four-theater run in New York and Los Angeles, by far topping newbies in the specialty arena, in another crowded field of newcomers. Three other titles debuted with fairly solid showings. Producers Distribution Agency’s Brooklyn Castle bowed with an $11,061 average in two New York theaters, placing it second in per-theater average among the newcomers, but whether the homegrown pic will exhibit legs in other cities. Sundance Selects’ doc The Flat averaged over $10K in two NYC venues, while Cannes/NYFF surreal feature Holy Motors also bowed in two Gotham theaters, averaging $9,744.

“It was quite an impressive weekend. It exceeded our expectations a bit,” said Searchlight’s SVP Distribution Frank Rodriguez. “We thought it would come in in the $20K-25K per screen range, so we were very happy. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ Tops Newcomers With $13K Per Theater

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday October 14, 2012 @ 11:22am PDTTags: Middle Of Nowhere, Smashed, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

Studio box office owned the spotlight this weekend, while specialties failed to impress. Sundance winner Middle Of Nowhere reigned over an otherwise blasé specialty weekend, averaging $13,005, while Middle Of NowhereEuropean-financed Simon And The Oaks took in over $10K in a single theater. Sony Pictures Classics rolled out its Sundance ’12 feature Smashed in four locations with an average of $7,506. The Weinstein Company’s War Of The Buttons, however, tanked with only a $914 average from 5 locations. Also opening, MPI Media’s Big Picture debuted with an average of $7,250 from two locations.

Related: ‘Taken 2′ Still #1; Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ Opens #2; ‘Sinister’ #3

Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron starrer The Paperboy headed into an additional 38 theaters in its second weekend, averaging $2,122, a big drop. In its debut, the polarizing pic averaged a bit more than $10K from 11 theaters. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘Paperboy’ Strong In Debut; ‘House I Live In’, ‘Wuthering Heights’, ‘The Oranges’ Fair

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday October 7, 2012 @ 10:06am PDTTags: Fat Kid Rules The World, Specialty Box Office, The Paperboy, V/H/S

Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy lead the pack of specialty newcomers with a solid $110,033 at 11 locations and an average of $10,003. That gives the Oscar-nominated director a respectable first showing for his follow-up to his lauded 2009 film Precious, although it falls short of spectacular. Even so, it bested the weekend’s other new titles in limited release. Only Abramorama’s The House I Live In came close with a $9,827 average in 2 theaters. Oscilloscope’s Wuthering Heights bowed in one theater with $8,785, while Drafthouse Films’ Wake In Fright opened comparatively softer with $6,749 in at New York City’s Film Forum. The restored 1972 film (Outback in its original U.S. release) will move to Austin, Washington and Boston next weekend and to Los Angeles on October 19th. IDP/ATO’s The Oranges bowed in 110 theaters with a soft average of $1,636. SnagFilms-Paladin release Decoding Deepak averaged $3,017 in three theaters, while Magnolia’s V/H/S opened in 15 theaters with a modest $2,667 average. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘The Other Dream Team’ Scores On Slow Weekend; ‘Perks Of Being A Wallflower’ Strong In Expansion

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday September 30, 2012 @ 11:05am PDTTags: Box Office, Specialty Box Office, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Brian Brooks is managing editor of MovieLine.

There were a few weeks there when the specialties shined compared to their studio brethren — overall box office slumped, but newcomers like The Master and Arbitrage impressed. Well, the final weekend of September saw limited-release titles lack the star-power of those earlier releases, and this frame as a result can best be described as ho-hum for the indies. The documentary The Other Dream Team scored the best overall numbers with a solid $11K-plus screen average. Fellow docu The Waiting Room averaged just $2,444, while Hong Kong feature Vulgaria managed a shy $2,250.

Related: What A Weekend! ‘Hotel Transylvania’ & ‘Looper’ Set Records

Last week’s big specialty opener, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, provided the zest in the specialty realm. Summit took the film to 102 theaters from its initial four-location run, and it did superbly with an $11,150 average and a weekend gross just shy of $1.4 million. The title placed 13th in the overall box office and will likely head into the top 10 next week.

Distribution newcomer The Film Arcade can give a shout-out to its first-ever release The Other Dream Team. The new company went “old school” in its release of the Lithuanian docu it picked up out of Sundance this year, taking it only to theaters and, for now at least, holding off on VOD and other on-demand platforms that have become de rigueur. “We want to do proper theatrical [release], and are not doing day-and-date,” TFA’s Miranda Bailey said. “We want to take ‘harder indie releases’ and take them out into theaters. We absolutely believe that this film had to go theatrical.” The company plans to take Dream Team to additional markets slowly.

Related: Specialty Preview: ‘The Other Dream Team’, ‘Vulgaria’, ‘The Waiting Room’ Read More »

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