Specialty Box Office: ‘Zero,’ ‘Amour’ and ‘Silver’ Continue To Soar; ‘Promised Land’ and ‘Memphis’ Disappoint in Debuts
While “The Hobbit,” “Django Unchained” and “Les Miserables” brought a huge boost to the post-Christmas studio box office, a bunch of platform release holdovers — namely “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Amour,” “The Impossible” and “Silver Linings Playbook” — did the same for the specialty market. However, the two debuting films — “Promised Land” and “West of Memphis” — both underperformed.
In their second weekends, “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Amour” and “The Impossible” all held their screen counts at 5, 3 and 15, respectively. “Zero” and “Amour” fell only 24% and 12%, while “The Impossible” made up for a somewhat underwhelming first weekend by actually gaining a whopping 28% in grosses, suggesting word of mouth is building on the Tsunami survival flick.
Meanwhile, “Silver Linings Playbook” expanded from 371 to 745 theaters in its seventh weekend and jumped 131% in grosses, remarkably seeing its per-theater-average rise from $4,801 to $5,517 despite nearly doubling its locations. Its total now stands at $27,360,722.
As for the newcomers, Focus Features and Sony Pictures Classics released “Promised Land” and “West of Memphis” on 25 and 5 screens, respectively. The former — directed by Gus Van Sant and both written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski — grossed a so-so $190,150, averaging $7,606 (it expands to 1500 screens nationwide this Friday). The latter — produced by the current king of the studio box office, Peter Jackson — grossed only $13,856 for a $2,771 average.
Numbers for reporting openers and holdovers below, ranked by per-theater-average.
The Debuts:
1. Promised Land
Distributor: Focus
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $190,150
Theaters: 25
Average: $7,606
Cumulative Total: $190,150
2. West of Memphis
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $13,856
Theaters: 5
Average: $2,771
Cumulative Total: $22,852
The Holdovers
1. Zero Dark Thirty
Distributor: Sony
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $315,000
Theaters: 5 (even with last week)
Average: $63,000
Cumulative Total: $1,367,571
2. Amour
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $60,016
Theaters: 3 (even with last week)
Average: $20,005
Cumulative Total: $217,791
3. The Impossible
Distributor: Summit
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $138,750
Theaters: 15 (even with last week)
Average: $12,300
Cumulative Total: $484,847
4. Silver Linings Playbook
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 7
Gross: $4,111,000
Theaters: 745 (up from 371)
Average: $5,517
Cumulative Total: $27,360,722
5. Hyde Park on Hudson
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross: $399,311
Theaters: 84 (down from 86)
Average: $5,112
Cumulative Total: $1,737,721
6. Rust and Bone
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 6
Gross: $121,437
Theaters: 26 (down from 27)
Average: $4,671
Cumulative Total: $594,457
7. Not Fade Away
Distributor: Paramount Vantage
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $56,000
Theaters: 19 (up from 3)
Average: $2,947
Cumulative Total: $97,000
8. Anna Karenina
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 8
Gross: $526,659
Theaters: 218 (down from 331)
Average: $2,196
Cumulative Total: $10,706,735
9. Holy Motors
Distributor: Indomina Media
Weeks in Release: 9
Gross: $24,177
Theaters: 14 (up from 11)
Average: $1,727
Cumulative Total: $511,231
10. The Other Son
Distributor: Cohen Media Group
Weeks in Release: 10
Gross: $20,705
Theaters: 17 (down from 30)
Average: $1,218
Cumulative Total: $1,160,006
11. Chasing Ice
Distributor: Submarine Deluxe
Weeks in Release: 8
Gross: $47,967
Theaters: 40 (down from 47)
Average: $1,199
Cumulative Total: $780,138
12. Hitchcock
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Weeks in Release: 6
Gross: $400,000
Theaters: 349 (down from 535)
Average: $1,146
Cumulative Total: $5,006,934
