Specialty Box Office: ‘Trance,’ ‘Upstream’ and ‘Company’ Make For Trio of Potent Debuts; ‘Pines’ Keeps It Coming

April got off to a great start at the specialty box office, with three films scoring debut averages of over $29,000 per-theater and another holding on to a $20,000+ average in its second frame.

Danny Boyle’s “Trance,” Shane Carruth’s “Upstream Color” and Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep” made up the noted trio, with “Trance” taking the lead via a $34,026 average from 4 screens. The film — released by Fox Searchlight — grossed $136,103.

“We are happy with the strong performance…particularly on Saturday night where the film went up 63% over Fridays nights’ results,” Fox Searchlight SVP Frank Rodriguez said. “We look forward to next week when we release the film nationally and will add approximately 375 to 400 theatres.”
 
That expansion will certainly be a much bigger test of the appeal of “Trance,” which stars James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson. The film grossed $2,394,559 from 408 screens in the UK when it debuted there last weekend.

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Just as impressive as “Trance” was “Upstream Color,” Shane Carruth’s long-awaited follow up to “Primer.” Carruth self-released the film through his erbp film, starting things off with an exclusive run at New York’s IFC Center. The result was a stellar $31,500 gross, with multiple sold out shows. It also registered over $13,000 in pre-sales before opening, the highest pre-opening box office for any film opening on just one screen
at the IFC Center (and 2nd for all films, trailing only “Sleepwalk with
Me,” which opened on multiple screens at the theater).

The film will open select top markets next weekend, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Boston and Toronto, before adding another 15 markets on April 19 and expanding to the top 50 and more throughout late April and early May. It will be available to audiences across the country on all digital platforms and home video on May 7.

Also performing very nicely was Sony Pictures Classics release of Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep.” Starring Shia LaBeouf, Susan Sarandon, Anna Kendrick and Redford himself, the film grossed a strong $146,058 from 5 theaters, averaging $29,212.

For “Company,” “Color,” and “Trance” to each average over $29,000 in the same weekend is an impressive feat and bodes well for a healthy April box office in the specialty market.  In an ideal scenario they’ll all hold up as well as Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond The Pines” next weekend. That film went from 4 to 30 theaters in this its second weekend and grossed $695,041, averaging a very impressive $23,168. It also crossed the $1 million mark, with much more likely to be where that came from.

Check out a full list of reporting grosses for both debuts and holdovers below.

The Debuts:

1. Trance
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross:  $136,103
Theaters: 4
Average: $34,026
Cumulative Total:  $136,103

2. Upstream Color
Distributor: ERBP
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross:  $31,500
Theaters: 1
Average: $31,500
Cumulative Total:  $31,500

3. The Company You Keep
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross:  $146,058
Theaters: 5
Average: $29,212
Cumulative Total: $146,058

4. Free Angela
Distributor: Codeblack Films/ Lionsgate
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross:  $69,306
Theaters: 16
Average: $4,332
Cumulative Total:  $69,306

5. Simon Killer
Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross:  $5,300
Theaters: 1
Average: $5,300
Cumulative Total:  $5,300

Check out the next page for holdover grosses, including “The Place Beyond The Pines,” “The Sapphires” and “Spring Breakers.”

The Holdovers

1. The Place Beyond The Pines
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross:  $695,041
Theaters: 30 (up from 4)
Average: $23,168
Cumulative Total:  $1,081,071

2. Somebody Up There Likes Me
Distributor: Tribeca Film
Weeks in Release: 5
Gross:  $6,060
Theaters: 1 (down from 3)
Average: $6,060
Cumulative Total:  $84,358

3. The Sapphires
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross:  $322,000
Theaters: 60 (up from 12)
Average: $5,367
Cumulative Total:  $473,952

4. Renoir
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross:  $103,000
Theaters: 20 (up from 6)
Average: $5,150
Cumulative Total: $200,408

5. Room 237
Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross:  $49,500
Theaters: 11 (up from 2)
Average: $4,500
Cumulative Total:  $83,600

6. From Up on Poppy Hill
Distributor: GKIDS
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross: $133,669
Theaters: 40 (up from 25)
Average: $3,342
Cumulative Total:  $475,460

7. Blancanieves
Distributor: Cohen Media Group
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross:  $35,852
Theaters: 14 (up from 4)
Average: $2,561
Cumulative Total:  $73,603

8. No
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 8
Gross:  $219,797
Theaters: 89 (up from 70)
Average: $2,470
Cumulative Total:  $1,619,777

9. Starbuck
Distributor: Entertainment One
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross:  $62,066
Theaters: 31 (up from 71)
Average: $2,002
Cumulative Total:  $154,823 (US Only — $3,609,848 Canada included)

10. Gimme The Loot
Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross:  $14,400
Theaters: 8 (up from 4)
Average: $1,800
Cumulative Total:  $67,200

11. Reality
Distributor: Oscilloscope
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross:  $18,000
Theaters: 12 (up from 4)
Average: $1,500
Cumulative Total: $55,238

12. Quartet

Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 13
Gross:  $358,000
Theaters: 252 (down from 302)
Average: $1,421
Cumulative Total:  $17,191,760

13. Ginger and Rosa
Distributor: A24
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross:  $140,000
Theaters: 99 (up from 78)
Average: $1,414
Cumulative Total:  $589,804

14. The Gatekeepers
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 10
Gross:  $171,492
Theaters: 131 (up from 105)
Average: $1,309
Cumulative Total:  $2,115,325 (includes Oscar qualifying run)

15. Spring Breakers
Distributor: A24
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross:  $1,200,000
Theaters: 1,072 (down from 1,378)
Average: $1,119
Cumulative Total: $12,644,742

16. On The Road

Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross:  $107,000
Theaters: 107 (up from 75)
Average: $1,000
Cumulative Total:  $309,000 (not including Oscar-qualifying run)

17. Stoker
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Weeks in Release: 6
Gross:  $62,000
Theaters: 89 (down from 194)
Average: $697
Cumulative Total:  $1,626,162

18. Wrong
Distributor: Drafthouse Films
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross:  $2,673
Theaters: 8 (down from 16)
Average: $334
Cumulative Total:  $33,075