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Specialty Box Office: Kelly Reichardt’s ‘Night’ Has Decent Moves; Sebastian Junger’s ‘Korengal’ Stronger

Specialty Box Office: Kelly Reichardt's 'Night' Has Decent Moves; Sebastian Junger's 'Korengal' Stronger
Specialty Box Office: Kelly Reichardt's 'Night' Has Decent Moves; Sebastian Junger's 'Korengal' Stronger

Here’s a rundown of the specialty box office this weekend, which saw Sebastian Junger’s doc “Korengal” top openers in its exclusive engagement debut, narrowly beating out the per-theater-average of Kelly Reichardt’s “Night Moves,” which was in one more theater. News wasn’t quite so good for other openers, with “We Are The Best,” “Filth” and “Lucky Them” all failing to managed significant audiences.

The Debuts:

Debut Winner of the Weekend: “Korengal.” Sebastian Junger’s “Korengal” — a follow up to the Oscar nominated doc “Restrepo” that Junger made with the late Tim Hetherington –opened exclusively at Landmark’s Sunshine cinema in New York to a very strong $15,145 — giving it the best average of any film in release save studio topper “Maleficent” (though it helped it was only on one screen). The film, a Saboteur Media release, was self financed by Junger. It will open in Los Angeles on June 13 before expanding to the top ten markets later in June.

Runner-Up: “Night Moves.” Arguably the weekend’s most anticipated new indie, “Night Moves” is director Kelly Reichart’s follow-up to 2010’s acclaimed “Meek’s Cutoff.” Starring Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard as a group of radical environmentalists planning the protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam, the film did end up beating the average of “Cutoff,” grossing a decent  $24,100 for a $12,050 average (“Cutoff” averaged $10,012 from 2 theaters 4 years ago).  So definitely a respectable start.

Debut Loser of the Weekend: “Filth.” The Irvine Welsh adaptation (being marketed as from the people that brought you “Trainspotting”) had been out in its native UK since last September, where it found respectable numbers (grossing the equivalent of $6.2 million). Though even with the X-Men factor of having James McAvoy in its lead role, “Filth” will clearly not match that number Stateside (at least in theaters — its also on VOD), averaging a pretty filthy $3,750 from its two theaters this weekend.

This Weekend’s Debuts:

1. Korengal (Saboteur Media)
Week: 1
Weekend Gross: $15,145
Theaters: 2
Per-Theater-Average: $15,145
Total Gross: $15,145
Criticwire Average: C

2. Elena (Variance)
Week: 1
Weekend Gross: $12,100
Theaters: 1
Per-Theater-Average: $12,100
Total Gross: $12,100
Criticwire Average: N/A

3. Night Moves (Cinedigm)
Week: 1
Weekend Gross: $24,100
Theaters: 2
Per-Theater-Average: $12,050
Total Gross: $24,100
Criticwire Average: B

4. We Are The Best (Magnolia)
Week: 1
Weekend Gross: $21,000
Theaters: 3
Per-Theater-Average: $7,000
Total Gross: $21,000
Criticwire Average: A-

5. Lucky Them (IFC Films)
Week: 1
Weekend Gross: $4,500
Theaters: 1
Per-Theater-Average: $4,500
Total Gross: $
Criticwire Average: B-

6. Filth (Magnolia)
Week: 1
Weekend Gross: $7,500
Theaters: 2
Per-Theater-Average: $3,750
Total Gross: $7,500
Criticwire Average: C+

Head over to the next page for a rundown of holdover grosses…

The Holdovers:

Holdover Winners of the Weekend: “Chef” and “Belle.”  In their fourth and fifth weekends, respectively, the films each expanded aggressively and up with impressive grosses of $2.0 million and $1.3 million — enough for “Chef’ to jump into the overall top 10 and for “Belle” to sit just under it. Their averages of $3,220 and $2,438 were quite healthy considering their screen counts, and both sailed past the $6 million mark.  Could these two films end up becoming the 2014’s next $10 million grossers? So far, only one indie film — “The Grand Budapest Hotel” — has managed that feat, with very few breakouts beyond it. Finally, it looks like that will change.

Notable Milestones:

  • “Chef” and “Belle” each crossed the $6 million mark — only the 3rd and 4th indie releases of 2014 to do so, respectively.
  • The Railway Man” hit the $4 million mark in its 8th weekend.
  • The Immigrant” and “Fed Up” each hit the $1 million mark. “Fed Up” is only the third documentary of 2014 to hit that mark.
  • Palo Alto” hit $500,000. It is now the highest grossing Tribeca Film release ever.

The Holdover Top 10:

1. Words and Pictures (Roadside Attractions)
Week: 2
Weekend Gross: $83,040
Theaters: 13 (up from 10)
Per-Theater-Average: $6,388
Total Gross: $91,400
Criticwire Average: C+

2. Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (IFC Films)
Week: 2
Weekend Gross: $9,000
Theaters: 2 (even from last weekend)
Per-Theater-Average: $4,500
Total Gross: $32,737
Criticwire Average: B+

3. Ida (Music Box)
Week: 5
Weekend Gross: $235,000
Theaters: 58 (up from 34)
Per-Theater-Average: $4,052
Total Gross: $955,775
Criticwire Average: A

4. The Dance of Reality (ABKCO Films)
Week: 2
Weekend Gross: $30,275
Theaters: 2
Per-Theater-Average: $3,784
Total Gross: $76,143
Criticwire Average: B

5. Chef (Open Road Films)
Week: 4
Weekend Gross: $2,009,000
Theaters: 624 (up from 498)
Per-Theater-Average: $3,220
Total Gross: $3,548,299
Criticwire Average: B

6. Chinese Puzzle (Cohen Media Group)
Week: 3
Weekend Gross: $71,300
Theaters: 29 (up from 10)
Per-Theater-Average: $2,459
Total Gross: $175,845
Criticwire Average: B+

7. Belle (Fox Searchlight)
Week: 5
Weekend Gross: $1,280,000
Theaters: 525 (up from 453)
Per-Theater-Average: $2,438
Total Gross: $6,209,933
Criticwire Average: B

8. The Immigrant (The Weinstein Company)
Week: 3
Weekend Gross: $329,000
Theaters: 150 (up from 147)
Per-Theater-Average: $2,193
Total Gross: $1,102,571
Criticwire Average: B+

9. Cold in July (IFC Films)
Week: 2
Weekend Gross: $124,000
Theaters: 69 (up from 6)
Per-Theater-Average: $1,797
Total Gross: $183,227
Criticwire Average: B+

10. Palo Alto (Tribeca Film)
Week: 4
Weekend Gross: $90,462
Theaters: 47 (up from 42)
Per-Theater-Average: $1,587
Total Gross: $512,038
Criticwire Average: B

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