As Cannes closes its first weekend, the Specialty landscape stateside was mostly quiet save for two openers that had single location debuts. IFC Films’ Wakefield starring Bryan Cranston opened to $14K, while PBS Distribution’s Steve James documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail took in $13.6K. Their exclusive bows gave the features technically the highest per theater averages of the weekend. ArtAffects Entertainment’s sports-drama Champion went out to 31 locations in its launch, grossing over $87K, while Cohen Media Group’s re-release of the 1987 Merchant Ivory classic Maurice with Hugh Grant and Rupert Graves grossed just over $6K from a single run.
Sony Classics expanded Diane Lane starrer Paris Can Wait, holding with well over $203K for the weekend in its second frame. Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions’ The Wall proved penetrable with just $321K in week 2 in fewer locations, while Roadside added dozens of theaters for The Wedding Plan, also in its second weekend, grossing nearly $173K. SPC’s Norman: The Moderate Rise & Tragic Fall Of a New York Fixer with Richard Gere jumped over two hundred runs in its sixth weekend with decent results. Music Box’s A Quiet Passion crossed $1M while Bleecker Street’s The Lost City of Z hit $8M, each in its sixth weekend in theaters.
IFC Films’ exclusive run of Wakefield at the Sunshine theater in New York landed with the weekend’s best per theater average, albeit with just one location. Starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner, the feature took in $14,120 Friday to Sunday. The distributor reported there were a number of sold-out shows throughout the weekend. “We began this [project] in May 2012,” said producer Julie Lynn about the feature earlier this week. “My producing partner Bonnie [Curtis] and I knew a studio would not make this movie, so we had to package it…We had to build around Bryan’s schedule since it’s all Bryan all the time.”
IFC Films will take Wakefield to Los Angeles as well as the top five markets for Memorial Day weekend. It will also be available on-demand next week.
Steve James’ doc Abacus: Small Enough To Jail bowed exclusively at IFC Center in New York Friday. Over the three-day, the feature grossed $13,626, for a good start. The company head of Theatrical Distribution Erin Owens gave a shout out to James and the film’s subjects.
“The film’s strong performance this weekend is a testament to the power of Steve James’s phenomenal filmmaking and to the featured subjects, the Sung Family, for so openly bringing him into their story.” The title centers on a small financial institution called Abacus which became the only company criminally indicted in the wake of the 2008 mortgage crisis. Abacus will head to L.A. and the Bay Area June 9 followed by additional markets June 16. It will continue to roll out to cities around the country this summer.
ArtAffects Entertainment’s Champion had the widest bow among the specialties reporting numbers Sunday, with 31 locations. Directed by Junn Brannon, the feature grossed $87,100, averaging $2,810. Said Margo Lange, president of ArtAffects Sunday: “Champion is a family drama that delivers the message of forgiveness in a powerful way to faith audiences. We are seeing sold out shows and audiences applauding as the credits roll.” Lange said expansion will be “limited” and based on demand.
Cohen Media Group opened Merchant-Ivory 1987 classic Maurice with an exclusive run Friday. The re-release took in $6,013 over the weekend. Based on the novel of the same name by E.M. Forster, the original release of the romantic-drama, which stars Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves and Ben Kingsley, cumed over $2.4M in its original release in the late ‘80s. Maurice will head to additional cities in the coming weeks.
SPC added 19 runs for Eleanor Coppola’s Paris Can Wait for week 2 of its run. Starring Diane Lane, Alec Baldwin and Arnaud Viard, the French-sent romance voyage grossed a solid $203,633, averaging $8,854 (-65%). Paris Can Wait opened last weekend in just four locations, grossing nearly $102K, averaging a stellar $25,456. The feature has cumed over $334K.
Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions’ The Wall shed 17 runs for week 2. In 524 theaters, the title starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena grossed just over $321K, averaging a slow $612 (- 63%). In its opening, The Wall grossed $891,590 in 541 theaters, averaging $1,648. The Wall has stacked up over $1.57M.
Roadside added 52 theaters for The Wedding Plan also in its second outing. In a total of 54 locations, the feature grossed just under $173K, averaging $3,210 (- 67%). The Wedding Plan opened the prior weekend with two runs, grossing $19,605, averaging $9,802. It has cumed nearly $219K.
In its third weekend, A24 jumped The Lovers from 23 runs last week, to 105 Friday. Starring Debra Winger and Tracy Letts, the feature grossed $300,417, averaging $2,861. Last weekend, the feature took in $140,553 from 23 locations, averaging $6,111. It now stands at nearly $555K in its theatrical release.
Sony Classics gave Norman: The Moderate Rise & Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer with Richard Gere an additional 220 runs in its fifth weekend of release. Norman grossed nearly $621K in 373 locations, averaging $1,665. Theatrically, the feature is doing much better than Gere’s previous release, Time Out of Mind, which only took in about $167K, though presumably the bulk of its gross came via on-demand platforms. Norman has cumed over $2.32M.
The Orchard added 14 theaters for doc Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent in its fifth weekend. Jeremiah grossed $15,615 in 33 locations, averaging $473. Last weekend it took just over $13K from 19 runs, averaging $686. It has cumed nearly $164K.
Cynthia Nixon starrer A Quiet Passion crossed $1M in its sixth weekend. In 130 theaters, the feature grossed nearly $203K Friday to Sunday, averaging $1,560, giving the Music Box Films release a cume of $1.08M.
And Bleecker Street’s The Lost City of Z went over $8M also in week six. Directed by James Gray and starring Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson and Sienna Miller, Z grossed $196,679 this weekend, averaging $906, giving it an estimated Sunday cume of $8,005,631.
NEW RELEASES
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail (PBS Distribution) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $13,626
Champion (ArtAffects Entertainment) NEW [31 Theaters] Weekend $87,100, Average $2,810
Maurice (Cohen Media Group, 2017 re-release) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $6,013
Wakefield (IFC Films) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $14,120
RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND
The Last Shaman (Abramorama) Week 2 [3 Theater] Weekend $2,175, Average $725, Cume $9,269
Lowriders (BH Tilt) Week 2 [365 Theaters] Weekend $1,161,695, Average $3,183, Cume $4,190,080
Manifesto (FilmRise) Week 2 [1 Theater] Weekend $7,000, Cume $24,504
Paris Can Wait (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 2 [23 Theaters] Weekend $203,633, Average $8,854, Cume $334,215
The Wall (Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions) Week 2 [524 Theaters] Weekend $321,050, Average $612, Cume $1,578,770
The Wedding Plan (Roadside Attractions) Week 2 [54 Theaters] Weekend $172,975, Average $3,210, Cume $218,969 (grosses include 9 locations in Canada)
HOLDOVERS / THIRD+ WEEKENDS
3 Generations (The Weinstein Company) Week 3 [13 Theaters] Weekend $6,198, Average $477, Cume $66,371
The Dinner (The Orchard) Week 3 [91 Theaters] Weekend $37,680, Average $414, Cume $1,279,368
The Lovers (A24) Week 3 [105 Theaters] Weekend $300,417, Average $2,861, Cume $554,862
Risk (Neon) Week 3 [12 Theaters] Weekend $11,096, Average $925, Cume $170,986
Bang! The Bert Berns Story (Abramorama) Week 4 [2 Theater] Weekend $4,352, Average $2,176, Cume $31,449
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (The Orchard) Week 5 [33 Theaters] Weekend $15,615, Average $473, Cume $163,698
Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary (Abramorama) Week 6 [10 Theater] Weekend $9,835, Average $984, Cume $220,517
The Lost City of Z (Bleecker Street) Week 6 [217 Theaters] Weekend $196,679, Average $906, Cume $8,005,631
Norman: The Moderate Rise & Tragic Fall Of a New York Fixer (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 6 [373 Theaters] Weekend $620,974, Average $1,665, Cume $2,328,450
A Quiet Passion (Music Box Films) Week 6 [130 Theaters] Weekend $202,837, Average $1,560, Cume $1,081,112
Colossal (Neon) Week 7 [105 Theaters] Weekend $78,173, Average $745, Cume $2,868,484
Truman (FilmRise Releasing) Week 7 [6 Theaters] Weekend $6,500, Average $1,083, Cume $186,791
The Zookeeper’s Wife (Focus Features) Week 8 [275 Theaters] Weekend $234,460, Average $853, Cume $16,842,176
The Belko Experiment (OTL Releasing) Week 10 [18 Theaters] Weekend $3,360, Average $187, Cume $10,160,965
Kedi (Oscilloscope) Week 15 [19 Theaters] Weekend $18,000, Average $947, Cume $2,625,882
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