The 30 Highest Grossing Indies of 2013

Here’s a chart of 2013’s thirty highest grossing films tracked by Indiewire’s box office charts. While Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” and Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” were among the only three films to gross over $30 million, it was Lionsgate and Pantelion’s massive Spanish-language hit “Instructions Not Included” — directed and starring by Mexican star Eugenio Derbez — that led the year’s crop.

Rounding out the top 10 were “Mud,” “The Way, Way Back,” “The Place Beyond The Pines,” “Quartet,” “Enough Said,” “Philomena” and “Fruitvale Station.”  At number 24, “20 Feet From Stardom” was the highest grossing documentary.

Notably, last year’s highest grossing film — “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” — saw its stars Judi Dench and Maggie Smith both represented in this year’s top 10 too with “Quartet” and “Philomena” (continuing the significant trend of the “silver dollar”). Comparatively, this year  had more $20 million grossers (6 vs. last year’s 4), $10 million grossers (12 vs. 10) and $5 million grossers (23 vs. 18) than 2012. More on that Monday via our commentary on the biggest winners at the indie box office this year.  But for now, check out the list below. 

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Note this list only includes North American grosses for specialty films — indie,
foreign and/or documentary — that opened in limited release
(initially under 500 screens) in 2013 and were released by an
independent distributor or a studio specialty division. It also includes
films that
screened only as an Academy-qualifier in 2012 (“Quartet,” “The
Gatekeepers,” etc). Only grosses up until December 31, 2013 are
included, and a lot of films listed could see a considerable amount of their grosses still come in 2014.

1. Instructions Not Included (Lionsgate/Pantelion) – $44,467,206
2. 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight) – $37,951,371
3. Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics) – $33,022,324
4. Mud (Roadside Attractions) – $21,590,086
5. The Way, Way Back (Fox Searchlight) – $21,502,690
6. The Place Beyond The Pines (Focus) – $21,403,519
7. Quartet (The Weinstein Company) – $18,390,117
8. Enough Said (Fox Searchlight) – $17,464,587
9. Philomena (The Weinstein Company) – $17,312,034
10. Fruitvale Station (The Weinstein Company ) – $16,101,339
11. Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features) – $15,847,213
12. Spring Breakers (A24) – $14,124,284
13. Before Midnight (Sony Pictures Classics) – $8,114,627

14. Dhoom 3 (Yash Raj) – $7,185,407
15. The Spectacular Now (A24) – $6,854,611
16. The Grandmaster (The Weinstein Company) – $6,594,959
17. Nebraska (Paramount Vantage) – $6,058,098
18. All Is Lost (Roadside Attractions) – $5,972,093
19. The Bling Ring (A24) – $5,845,732
20. Pulling Strings (Lionsgate/Pantelion) – $5,842,961
21. Chennai Express (UTV) – $5,307,960
22. Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (The Weinstein Company) – $5,236,120
23. Inside Llewyn Davis (CBS FIlms) – $5,198,928
24. The Company You Keep (Sony Pictures Classics) – $5,133,027
25. 20 Feet From Stardom (RADiUS) – $4,814,733
26. Much Ado About Nothing (Roadside Attractions) – $4,328,849
27. Frances Ha (IFC Films) – $4,066,582
28. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (Eros) – $3,827,466
29. Metallica Through The Never (Picturehouse) – $3,419,967
30. Emperor (Roadside Attractions) – $3,346,265