‘Phantom Thread’ Haute in 1st Full Weekend; ‘Darkest Hour’ & ‘The Shape of Water’ Strong with Added Runs — Specialty Box Office
Holdovers are overshadowing the sparse number of specialty newcomers over the New Year’s weekend with Fox’s The Post and Focus Features’ Phantom Thread scoring the best per-theater averages of the weekend.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread with Daniel Day-Lewis is tracking an estimated $305K in four theaters in the current four-day estimate, while Steven Spielberg’s The Post starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks has a $765K Friday to Monday estimate in nine locations. Molly’s Game from STXfilms starring Jessica Chastain is solid with a four-day $3.11M estimate in 271 theaters.
Two newcomers reported numbers Sunday. Sony Pictures Classics bowed Annette Bening and Jamie Bell bio-romance Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool in four locations grossing an estimated 3-day $36K, while China Lion opened comedy Ex-File 3 starring Han Geng and Zheng Kai with 21 runs taking in $110,000. The distributor’s third-week holdover, Youth, meanwhile became the company’s biggest grosser at $1.56M this weekend. A24’s The Disaster Artist had a slight PTA uptick in its fifth weekend with just 10 fewer locations from the Christmas weekend. Searchlight added 30 runs for Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, which landed 11th in the overall box office with a 3-day $3.49M as of Sunday morning. Focus Features’ Darkest Hour placed 8th in the overall box office with $5.28M in over nine hundred theaters. Lady Bird shed some runs over Christmas weekend, but is now over $31.3M.
Spielberg’s The Post remained in nine locations over the New Years weekend, grossing $539,440 Friday to Sunday and an estimated four-day total of $765K ($59,938 PTA; $85K 4-day PTA). In the four-day, the estimate means the film has equaled or even slightly out-performed its Christmas weekend four-day total of $762K, averaging $84,673. The film is clearly building word-of-mouth before it goes wide in the coming weeks. It has cumed over $1.9M.
Phantom Thread is doing strong numbers in its first full weekend in theaters. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville, the drama-romance set in London’s circle of ‘50s high fashion is so far heading toward a $305K four-day estimate in 4 locations ($220K 3-day estimate), for a Friday to Monday average of $76,259 and a three-day $55K per theater average. The averages are higher than Anderson’s 2014 release, Inherent Vice which had a second weekend gross of $145,277 in December of that year, averaging $29,055. Focus Features is going to keep Phantom Thread with very limited runs heading into the first weekend of 2018, adding an additional run in New York and a theater in Toronto. Phantom Thread will then head to more markets January 12.
STXfilms also opened Molly’s Game on Christmas Day. In its first full weekend of release, the title starring Jessica Chastain is heading toward a $2.33M three-day gross and an estimated Friday to Monday $3.11M at the box office ($8,598 three-day PTA; $11,476 4-day). STXfilms is estimating its cume as of Monday to be $6M.
In its third weekend, China Lion’s Youth by Feng Xiaogang became the boutique distributor’s highest-grossing title in its seven-year history. Youth’s three-day gross in 35 theaters came in at $185K ($5,285 average) pushing its cume to over $1.56M. Feng actually starred in Mr. Six, China Lion’s previous highest-grosser at over $1.4M.
Commented China Lion’s Robert Lundberg Sunday: “We’ve released five films directed by Feng Xiaogang over our seven-year company history and this will be the highest grossing of them. We shouldn’t have been surprised at how well Youth has been embraced by audiences, given Feng Xiaogang’s legendary status in China as one of the country’s best filmmakers. Even in this crowded marketplace, especially among all the year-end award contenders, Youth has over-performed. We’re extremely happy to have been able to bring the film to Canada and the U.S.”
I, Tonya starring Margot Robbie as controversial Olympic skater Tonya Harding played 17 additional locations marking its first full month of release via Neon and 30West. In 49 theaters, the title has a four-day estimate of over $921K, averaging a solid $18,800. That is on par with its four-day Xmas average of $19,255 in 32 theaters. I, Tonya has an estimated Monday cume of $2.66M.
A24 dropped James Franco’s The Disaster Artist by just 10 runs in its fifth weekend. The title has a three-day $951,982 gross, averaging $1,878. That PTA is slightly ahead of last weekend’s. The Disaster Artist grossed over $907K last Friday to Sunday, averaging $1,755. The film has cumed over $17.88M.
Fox Searchlight’s The Shape of Water is expected to cross $17M by the end of the holiday weekend. As of Sunday, the title directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Sally Hawkins landed 11th in the overall box office with a $3.49M three-day gross ($4,616 PTA) and is expected to end the weekend with $4.875M at the box office ($6,448 PTA).
Said Searchlight Sunday when reporting its numbers: “As we can see from the grosses, the film is earning terrific results at the box office. From art houses in St. Louis and Austin to multiplexes in Burbank and Chicago, the film is succeeding on many levels. We are so gratified to see that movie audiences across North America continue to seek out and appreciate this incredibly special film. As many have noted, the film really is a ‘Fable for troubled times.’”
Focus Features’ Darkest Hour starring Gary Oldman landed 8th in the overall box office as of Sunday morning, though it is in far fewer locations than any of its fellow top 10ers. In the three-day, the film grossed $5.28M, averaging $5,599 (4-day estimate: $7.16M, $7,598 PTA). By the end of the New Year’s weekend, the title is estimated to have a cume of $19.8M.
SPC added just one run for Call Me By Your Name directed by Luca Guadagnino in its sixth frame. In 115 theaters, the Golden Globe-nominee grossed over $702K, averaging $6,105 (-18%). The title took in nearly $851K Friday to Sunday of Christmas weekend, averaging $7,463. It has cumed over $4.61M.
Focus president of distribution Lisa Bunnell said in a statement Sunday: “Darkest Hour is taking America by storm. We’re seeing audiences coming out in big numbers. It’s a movie they found inspiring over the holiday break and the word of mouth gives us a strong outlook for the upcoming weeks.”
Searchlight’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is estimated to close out the weekend at over $24.4M. Starring Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards is estimating a four-day take of $930K ($3,496 average).
And Lady Bird is in her 30s. The film directed by Greta Gerwig is handily the highest-grossing specialty fall release at over $31.39M. Friday to Sunday, the title starring Golden Globe-nominees Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf grossed $1.42M, averaging a solid $3,638 in its ninth weekend of theatrical release.
Below numbers are three-day estimates unless otherwise noted:
NEW RELEASES
Ex-File 3 (Qian Ren 3) (China Lion) NEW [21 Theaters] Weekend $110,000, Average $5,238
Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool (Sony Pictures Classics) NEW [4 Theaters] Weekend $36,048, Average $9,012
RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND
Happy End (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 2 [3 Theaters] Weekend $15,466, Average $5,155, Cume $60,125
Hostiles (Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures) Week 2 [5 Theaters] Weekend $35,714, Average $7,143, Cume $88,007
Molly’s Game (STXfilms) Week 2 [271 Theaters] Weekend $2,330,000; $3,110,000 (4-day), Average $8,598; $11,476 (4-day), Cume $6,000,000
Phantom Thread (Focus Features) Week 2 [4 Theaters] Weekend $220,000; $305,000 (4-day), Average $55,000; $76,259 (4-day), Cume $531,345; $616,000 (4-day)
The Post (Fox) Week 2 [9 Theaters] Weekend $539,440; $765,000 (4-day), Average $59,938; $85,000 (4-day), Cume $1,964,041
HOLDOVERS / THIRD+ WEEKENDS
Youth (China Lion) Week 3 [35 Theaters] Weekend $185,000, Average $5,285, Cume $1,565,384
I, Tonya (Neon/30West) Week 4 [49 Theaters] Weekend $661,603; $921,207 (4-day), Average $13,502; $18,800 (4-day), Cume $2,661,992
The Disaster Artist (A24) Week 5 [507 Theaters] Weekend $951,982, Average $1,878, Cume $17,880,784
The Shape of Water (Fox Searchlight) Week 5 [756 Theaters] Weekend $3,490,000; $4,875,000, Average $4,616; $6,448 (4-day), Cume $17,015,155
Call Me By Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 6 [115 Theaters] Weekend $702,098, Average $6,105, Cume $4,610,862
Darkest Hour (Focus Features) Week 6 [943 Theaters] Weekend $5,280,000; $7,165,000 (4-day), Average $5,599; $7,598 (4-day), Cume $19,812,000
The Man Who Invented Christmas (Bleecker Street) Week 6 [146 Theaters] Weekend $67,017, Average $459, Cume $5,579,372
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Fox Searchlight) Week 8 [266 Theaters] Weekend $665,000; $930,000, Average $2,500; $3,496 (4-day), Cume $24,419,084
My Friend Dahmer (FilmRise) Week 9 [2 Theaters] Weekend $3,500, Average $1,750, Cume $1,296,753
Lady Bird (A24) Week 9 [392 Theaters] Weekend $1,426,164, Average $3,638, Cume $31,392,177
Jane (Abramorama) Week 11 [21 Theaters] Weekend $26,748, Average $1,274, Cume $1,491,914
Marshall (Open Road Films) Week 12 [50 Theaters] Weekend $10,905, Average $218, Cume $9,468,630
Faces Places (Cohen Media Group) Week 13 [8 Theaters] Weekend $11,508, Average $1,438, Cume $604,594
The Florida Project (A24) Week 13 [33 Theaters] Weekend $46,680, Average $1,415, Cume $5,293,567
Victoria And Abdul (Focus Features) Week 15 [24 Theaters] Weekend $20,000 (4-day), Average $833 (4-day), Cume $22,240,000
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