Specialty Box Office: ‘Austenland’ Beats Fellow Sundancers ‘Saints,’ ‘Cutie’
Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.
Some crowds headed to see Sundance debut Austenland this weekend, opening in 4 theaters and grossing just over $42K. The film got TV ad treatment and hilariously even had its trailer show twice at NYC’s Chelsea Clearview before a showing of another SPC title, Blue Jasmine yesterday, much to the groans of the crowd. But with all that awareness the feature only managed a so-so opening weekend, besting fellow Sundancer Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, which had a mellow debut in three theaters grossing $28,800. And another Sundance pic, Cutie And The Boxer, headed out to theaters grossing $21K for a $7K-plus PSA. But the weekend PSA bragging rights go to Cohen Media Group’s You Will Be My Son, which opened with $15,469 at the Paris Theatre in NYC. The weekend’s other newcomers, Inch’Allah, The Patience Stone and Spark: A Burning Man Story opened with fair results in limited releases.
The weekend’s newcomers will continue to roll out slowly. Sony Pictures Classics will add major markets for Austenland and The Patience Stone through the rest of summer and into early fall. IFC Films plans to take Ain’t Them Bodies Saints to ten markets next week, while SXSW doc Spark will head to over a dozen markets. You Will Be My Son will head to LA and south Florida next week.
Bollywood made a splashy debut in North America last week with a record breaking debut for Chennai Express. The film stayed in just under 200 runs in its second weekend, grossing a solid $842K. Noted the feature’s Stateside distributor UTV: “Chennai Express is now the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of all-time in North America after 2009′s 3 Idiots ($6.5M) and 2010′s My Name is Khan ($4M).”
Roadside expanded In A World to 34 additional theaters, holding steady with a $230,510 gross, but it was Woody Allen‘s Blue Jasmine which continued to be the holdover winner. Sony Classics added 110 theaters in its fourth weekend, grossing almost $2.4 million for a solid $10,303 average. Its momentum is a bit behind Allen’s biggest box office title to date, Midnight In Paris, though that film was in four times as many theaters at this stage.
RADiUS-TWC continues to see momentum with 20 Feet From Stardom, which will likely make a strong showing as Awards Season gets underway in the coming weeks. The crowd pleaser passed the $4 million cume threshold in its 10th week. The doc grossed nearly $116K in 95 theaters.
NEW
Austenland (Sony Pictures Classics) NEW [4 Theaters] Weekend $42,633, Average $10,685
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (IFC Films) NEW [3 Theaters] Weekend $28,800, Average $9,600
Cutie And The Boxer (RADiUS-TWC) NEW [3 Theaters] Weekend $21,093, Average $7,031
Inch’Allah (Entertainment One Films) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $3K
The Patience Stone (Sony Pictures Classics) NEW [2 Theaters] Weekend $7,363, Average $3,682
Spark: A Burning Man Story (Self-distributed/Paladin/FilmBuff) NEW [2 Theaters] Weekend $9,100, Average $4,550
You Will Be My Son (Cohen Media) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $15,469
Returning / 2nd Weekend
Chennai Express (UTV Communications) Week 2 [190 Theaters] Weekend $842K, Average $4,431, Cume $3,963,000
In A World (Roadside Attractions) Week 2 [37 Theaters] Weekend $230,510, Average $6,230, Cume $334,068
Lovelace (RADiUS-TWC) Week 2 [48 Theaters] Weekend $37,800, Average $787, Cume $316,957
Holdovers / 3RD+ Weekends
The Artist And The Model (Cohen Media Group) Week 3 [5 Theaters] Weekend $9,406, Average $1,881, Cume $67,088
The Spectacular Now (A24) Week 3 [55 Theaters] Weekend $418,989, Average $7,618, Cume $1,080,916
Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 4 [229 Theaters] Weekend $2,359,395, Average $10,303, Cume $9,489,976
Tiny Times (China Lion) Week 4 [6 Theaters] Weekend $22K, Average $3,667
Only God Forgives (RADiUS-TWC) Week 5 [16 Theaters] Weekend $8,698, Average $543, Cume $765,368
Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company) Week 6 [477 Theaters] Weekend $513K, Average $1,075, Cume $14,632,577
Stuck In Love(Millennium Entertainment) Week 6 [5 Theater] Weekend $3,066, Average $613, Cume $76,405
I’m So Excited (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 8 [31 Theaters] Weekend $23,642, Average $763, Cume $1,274,080
The Attack (Cohen Media Group) Week 9 [27 Theaters] Weekend $29,353, Average $1,087, Cume $1,451,173
20 Feet From Stardom (RADiUS-TWC) Week 10 [95 Theaters] Weekend $115,983, Average $1,221, Cume $4,078,728
The Bling Ring (A24) Week 10 [18 Theaters] Weekend $5,296, Average $294, Cume $5,824,036
Much Ado About Nothing (Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate) Week 11 [36 Theaters], Weekend $22,575, Average $625, Cume $4,219,422
Mud (Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate) Week 17 [28 Theaters] Weekend $14,600, Average $521, Cume $21,567,395
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