Box Office: Clint Eastwood's 'American Sniper' Strong in Limited Release
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
By Brian Brooks
This Golden Globes weekend was all about the holdovers in the Specialty Box Office. Newcomers made barely a blip, if they reported numbers at all, while Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper is simply a four-theater cash cow, pulling in $555,000 this weekend for a stout per-theater average of $138,750. A Most Violent Year in its second weekend strong-armed a solid per-theater average of $30,140, also in four theaters, though it’s down 30 percent from last week.
Another limited release, Selma, went wide in its third weekend, with solid results in more than 2,000 theaters, attracting $11.2 million, for a per-theater average of more than $5,000. Christmas controversy The Interview, meanwhile, shed some locations in its third frame as it continues to fade in theaters (it has also made more than $31 million in a wide simultaneous VOD release).
Warner Bros. continues to rack up the cash with American Sniper. The studio has kept the title in just four theaters, but it has nevertheless amassed $3.15M in three weeks — an unprecedented number.
In its final weekend before going wide, the feature about the U.S. military’s most lethal sniper, starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, grossed $555K for a spectacular $138,750 PTA.
There is no clean comparison with Eastwood’s previous films. His last two director efforts, Jersey Boys and J. Edgar, opened fairly wide, eventually totaling $47M and $37.3M. Sniper has already grossed just under 10 percent of the latter and it has yet to go wide.
His last title to have a limited debut, Hereafter, opened in 6 theaters, grossing more than $220K ($36,720 PTA). That film, which starred Matt Damon, went wide in its second weekend. It cumed $32.74M. American Sniper will trounce that number.
Music Box Films opened Beloved Sisters in nine theaters this weekend, one of a sparse few new titles to debut in 2015’s second weekend. The German-language three-way romance only managed $25K for a $2,777 theater average.
“The week before MLK (holiday), is often devoid of new openings and overall January and February can often be underrepresented with art-house releases because of the presence of more mainstream Oscar nominees,” Music Box’s Ed Arentz said earlier this week. “We were also aware that foreign-language films that fell short of their nomination hopes can still find traction in the first part of the year with strong reviews and good word of mouth.”
Arentz said then that Music Box is concentrating on the longer haul for Beloved Sisters more than first-weekend averages. The feature will expand to the top 25 markets going into February.
Kino Lorber bowed Farewell Herr Schwarz in 2 NYC locations. The title, which screened at the Israel Film Festival in L.A. in late October, grossed $4,500, for a $2,250 average. Kino Lorber said the feature – about the dispersement of a German-Jewish family after WWII – will expand to other major U.S. markets in the coming weeks.
In its second weekend, J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year also stayed put in a very limited offering. It grossed $120,561 for a $30,140 PTA, a 30% drop from last weekend’s $47K PTA. It will go wide at the end of the month.
Paramount took its Civil Rights drama Selma nationwide in its third frame. The title by Sundance-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay grossed $11.2M in 2,179 theaters, averaging $5,140, landing second in the overall box office this weekend after 20th Century Fox’s action pic Taken 3. Last weekend, Selma grossed $645K in 22 theaters, averaging $29,318. Its three-week cume is now over $13.48M.
After spending a month and a half in very limited release, Warner Bros. took Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Inherent Vice into a comparatively wider 645 theaters for its sixth weekend. The film based on a Thomas Pynchon novel and starring Joaquin Phoenix grossed $2.9M for a $4,496 PTA and a cume just under $4.48M.
Sony Classics added a dozen runs for the foreign-language drama Two Days, One Night in its third weekend. The film starring Marion Cotillard was directed by Belgian duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Two Days grossed $71,400, averaging $5,100. The feature opened Christmas weekend grossing $30,700 in two theaters.
SPC added a location for Leviathan, which made the short list for Oscar best foreign-language film, also in its third frame.It grossed $27,241, averaging $6,810, down 12% from the previous weekend’s $30,901 in three theaters.
The distributor also added 15 theaters in the fourth weekend of Mr. Turner, directed by Mike Leigh and starring Timothy Spall, who won best actor from the New York Film Critics Circle. Turner grossed $242,177, averaging $6,210. Last weekend it grossed $231,227, averaging $9,634 in 24 theaters.
Fox Searchlight’s Wild with Golden Globe nominee Reese Witherspoon lost 75 runs in its 6th weekend, passing the $30M cumulative threshold. That surpasses director Jean-Marc Vallée‘s last film, Dallas Buyers Club, which amassed $27.298M on the way to winning multiple Oscars last year. Wild grossed $2.7M over the weekend, averaging $2,100, down 40 percent from last week’s $4.5M in 1,361 theaters ($3,306 average).
NEW
Beloved Sisters (Music Box Films) NEW [9 Theaters] Weekend $25K, Average $2,777, Cume $27K
Farewell Herr Schwarz (Kino Lorber) NEW [2 Theaters] Weekend $4,500, Average $2,250
RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND
A Most Violent Year (A24) Week 2 [4 Theaters] Weekend $120,561, Average $30,140, Cume $457,473
HOLDOVERS / THIRD+ WEEKENDS
American Sniper (Warner Bros.) Week 3 [4 Theaters] Weekend $555K, Average $138,750, Cume $3,150,151
The Interview (Sony Pictures) Week 3 [492 Theaters] Weekend $388K, Average $789, Cume $5,740,387
Leviathan (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 3 [4 Theaters] Weekend $27,241, Average $6,810, Cume $120,760
Love On The Cloud (China Lion) Week 3 [4 Theaters] Weekend $10K, Average $2,500, Cume $265,283
Selma (Paramount) Week 3 [2,179 Theaters] Weekend $11.2M, Average $5,140, Cume $13,486,949
Two Days, One Night (IFC Films) Week 3 [14 Theaters] Weekend $71,400, Average $5,100, Cume $201,124
Mr. Turner (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 4 [39 Theaters] Weekend $242,177, Average $6,210, Cume $1,290,141
Inherent Vice (Warner Bros.) Week 5 [645 Theaters] Weekend $2.9M, Average $4,496, Cume $4,478,965
Wild (Fox Searchlight) Week 6 [1,286 Theaters] Weekend $2.7M, Average $2,100, Cume $30,338,942
The Babadook (IFC Midnight) Week 7 [55 Theaters] Weekend $50,160 Average $912, Cume $822,161
The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Company) Week 7 [1,566 Theaters] Weekend $7,624,000, Average $4,868, Cume $40.840,439
Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 9 [237 Theaters] Weekend $530,597, Average $2,239, Cume $8,739,977
The Homesman (Roadside Attractions/Saban Films) Week 9 [51 Theaters] Weekend $38,765, Average $760, Cume $2,338,574
The Theory Of Everything (Focus Features) Week 10 [408 Theaters] Weekend $675K, Average $1,654, Cume $25,896,028
Citizenfour (RADiUS) Week 12 [50 Theaters] Weekend $44,868, Average $897, Cume $2,344,914
Birdman (Fox Searchlight) Week 13 [228 Theaters] Weekend $590K, Average $2,588, Cume $26,337,726
Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 14 [69 Theaters] Weekend $152,724, Average $2,213, Cume $6,153,894
My Old Lady (Cohen Media Group) Week 18 [5 Theaters] Weekend $2,831, Average $566, Cume $4,006,980
Boyhood (IFC Films) Week 27 [20 Theaters] Weekend $24K, Average $1,200, Cume $24,340,400
Related
Did Golden Globes Just Reveal Their 2015 Best Picture Winners?
BAFTA: ‘Budapest’ & Britannia Rule As Nominations Snub ‘Selma’, ‘Unbroken’
Watch the American Sniper trailer:
Image credit: AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures
