Specialty Box Office: Quartet of Debuts Find Respectable Numbers, But They’re No Match For ‘Quartet’
Despite not getting any traction this awards season, Dustin Hoffman’s senior-audience skewing “Quartet” continued to find very impressive numbers at the specialty box office, which has been off to a slow start for newcomers this month.
“Quartet” — starring Maggie Smith and featuring a “Best Exotic”-like plot involving retired opera singers, expanded from 32 to 163 theaters in its third weekend and managed an excellent $1,149,000 gross — averaging $7,049.
That made for the highest per-theater-average of any film in release except for another film starring folks over 75, Michael Haneke’s very much Oscar- nominated “Amour.”
Sony Classics expanded “Amour” — nominated for 5 Oscars — slowly but surely from 36 to 64 theaters and saw a 29% jump in grosses, taking in another $481,000 to average $7,516. With a month left to reap the benefits of the Oscar nominations (and then potentially more time after that if it — and it very well could — wins an Oscar or two), “Amour” should become a very sizeable foreign language hit for Sony Classics.
As for the weekend’s newbies, Magnolia’s “John Dies at the End” had the highest per-theater-average, taking in $13,500 from a single screen. Meanwhile, Music Box’s “Happy People,” Strand’s “Yossi” and IFC Film’s “Knife Fight” all averaged in the respectable $6,000-$10,000 range.
Full list of numbers for reporting openers and holdovers below, ranked by per-theater-average.
The Debuts:
1. John Dies at the End
Distributor: Magnolia
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $13,500
Theaters: 1
Average: $13,500
Cumulative Total: $13,500
2. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Distributor: Music Box
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $9,882
Theaters: 1
Average: $9,882
Cumulative Total: $9,822
3. Yossi
Distributor: Strand
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $13,208
Theaters: 2
Average: $6,604
Cumulative Total: $13,208
4. Knife Fight
Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $12,000
Theaters: 2
Average: $6,000
Cumulative Total: $12,000
The Holdovers
1. Amour
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 6
Gross: $480,969
Theaters: 64 (up from 36)
Average: $7,515
Cumulative Total: $1,814,877
2. Quartet
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross: $1,149,000
Theaters: 163 (up from 32)
Average: $7,049
Cumulative Total: $1,689,829
3. The Impossible
Distributor: Summit
Weeks in Release: 6
Gross: $1,980,000
Theaters: 782 (down from 886)
Average: $2,532
Cumulative Total: $13,341,755
4. The Master
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 20
Gross: $71,000
Theaters: 37 (up from 14)
Average: $1,919
Cumulative Total: $16,128,745
5. Hyde Park on Hudson
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 8
Gross: $248,877
Theaters: 144 (down from 194)
Average: $1,728
Cumulative Total: $5,303,246
6. West of Memphis
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 5
Gross: $22,857
Theaters: 14 (up from 9)
Average: $1,633
Cumulative Total: $72,759
7. Holy Motors
Distributor: Indomina
Weeks in Release: 15
Gross: $18,583
Theaters: 12 (up from 6)
Average: $1,549
Cumulative Total: $641,054
8. Beware of Mr. Baker
Distributor: SnagFilms
Weeks in Release: 9
Gross: $21,826
Theaters: 15
Average: $1,455
Cumulative Total: $75,734
9. Searching For Sugar Man
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 27
Gross: $30,412
Theaters: 26 (down from 27)
Average: $1,170
Cumulative Total: $3,181,223
10. Rust and Bone
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 10
Gross: $128,180
Theaters: 116 (down from 168)
Average: $1,105
Cumulative Total: $1,709,158
11. Anna Karenina
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 11
Gross: $102,774
Theaters: 98 (down from 117)
Average: $1,049
Cumulative Total: $12,425,963
12. LUV
Distributor: Indomina
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $18,000
Theaters: 21 (down from 46)
Average: $857
Cumulative Total: $137,142
