Specialty Box Office: ‘Disconnect,’ ‘To The Wonder’ Debut; ‘Pines’ Very Strong In Expansion
Henry Alex Rubin’s “Disconnect” narrowly topped Terrence Malick’s “To The Wonder” to lead this weekend’s generally disappointing limited debuts. “Disconnect” stars Jason Bateman, Hope Davis and Paula Patton, and premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Distributor LD Entertainment debuted it in 15 theaters this weekend, and saw a $123,597 gross for a $8,240 per-theater-average.
Expectations were clearly a bit higher for “To The Wonder,” which Magnolia released in 17 theaters just under 2 years after Malick’s “The Tree of Life” debuted to a staggering $93,230 average in 4 theaters. No one expected “To The Wonder” to compete with that (anticipation is much more muted this time around), though its $130,000 gross was probably on the lower end of expectations. Averaging $7,647, it grossed about a third of what “Life” did in its first frame despite being in four times the theaters.
That said, Magnolia did release the film day and date on VOD. “Wonder” notably is ranked #10 on iTunes overall movie rental charts (just behind “Wonder” star Ben Affleck’s “Argo”) and #1 on iTunes’ independent film charts.
Both films were overshadowed by the third weekend performance of Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond The Pines,” however. That film expanded to 514 theaters and held on very strong, grossing $4,079,575 for a $7,937 average (higher than “To The Wonder” despite being on 500 or so more screens). It placed “Pines” in the overall top 10, and gave it a new total of $5,453,755.
Said “Pines” distributor Focus Features: “There are notable box office dynamics driving the film’s success: sell outs occurred in many houses particularly in the prime late matinee/early evening shows which is when older adult (35+) patronage is usually strong; late show business was also robust in smart/commercial houses—indicating the film’s appeal to younger ticket buyers around the country.”
Focus said the geographic range of the successful new markets was “broad and diverse,” listing San Jose, Anchorage, Austin, Miami, Indianapolis, Nashville San Antonio, Milwaukee, Memphis, Wichita and Santa Cruz among them.
Check out a full list of reporting grosses for both debuts and holdovers on the next page.
The Debuts:
1. Disconnect
Distributor: LD Entertainment
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $123,597
Theaters: 15
Average: $8,240
Cumulative Total: $136,103
2. To The Wonder
Distributor: Magnolia
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $130,000
Theaters: 17
Average: $7,647
Cumulative Total: $130,000
3. The Angel’s Share
Distributor: Sundance Selects
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $21,000
Theaters: 3
Average: $7,000
Cumulative Total: $21,000
4. It’s A Disaster
Distributor: Oscilloscope
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross: $17,000
Theaters: 3
Average: $5,667
Cumulative Total: $17,000
The Holdovers
1. The Place Beyond The Pines
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross: $4,079,576
Theaters: 514 (up from 30)
Average: $7,937
Cumulative Total: $5,453,755
2. The Company You Keep
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $310,763
Theaters: 41 (up from 5)
Average: $7,580
Cumulative Total: $483,373
3. Upstream Color
Distributor: ERBP
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $74,140
Theaters: 11 (up from 1)
Average: $6,740
Cumulative Total: $112,871
4. Renoir
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross: $166,600
Theaters: 49 (up from 20)
Average: $3,400
Cumulative Total: $407,688
5. Simon Killer
Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $6,400
Theaters: 2
Average: $3,200
Cumulative Total: $13,400
6. The Sapphires
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross: $245,000
Theaters: 93 (up from 60)
Average: $2,634
Cumulative Total: $780,401
7. Trance
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $925,000
Theaters: 438 (up form 4)
Average: $2,112
Cumulative Total: $1,099,608
8. From Up on Poppy Hill
Distributor: GKIDS
Weeks in Release: 5
Gross: $97,821
Theaters: 48 (up from 41)
Average: $2,038
Cumulative Total: $612,759
9. Room 237
Distributor: IFC Midnight
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross: $34,000
Theaters: 17 (up from 11)
Average: $2,000
Cumulative Total: $151,200
10. No
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 9
Gross: $179,079
Theaters: 99 (up from 89)
Average: $1,809
Cumulative Total: $1,868,913
11. Blancanieves
Distributor: Cohen Media Group
Weeks in Release: 3
Gross: $29,621
Theaters: 17 (up from 14)
Average: $1,742
Cumulative Total: $118,168
12. Gimme The Loot
Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross: $6,600
Theaters: 6 (down from 8)
Average: $1,100
Cumulative Total: $80,000
13. Starbuck
Distributor: Entertainment One
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross: $33,002
Theaters: 32 (up from 31)
Average: 1,031
Cumulative Total: $204,497 (US Only — $3,659,522 Canada included)
14. Quartet
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 14
Gross: $229,000
Theaters: 224 (down from 252)
Average: $1,022
Cumulative Total: $17,579,915
15. On The Road
Distributor: IFC Films
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross: $40,000
Theaters: 50 (down from 107)
Average: $800
Cumulative Total: $640,200
16. The Gatekeepers
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 11
Gross: $70,812
Theaters: 90 (down from 131)
Average: $787
Cumulative Total: $2,257,379 (includes Oscar qualifying run)
