Box Office: “Precious” Still Potent; “Mr. Fox” Leads (Mostly) Fantastic Openers

Oscilloscope opened Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger” on four screens this weekend as well.  In New York and Washington, the critically acclaimed film - which stars Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton - managed a $50,000 gross, selling out many of its Saturday shows.  That made for a $12,500 average, promising considering competition and the film’s content, which has mostly proved financially challenged in the past.

“The success of ‘The Messenger’ proves that America is ready for a film that addresses the real issues soldiers face when returning from war,”  David Fenkel, co-founder of Oscilloscope Laboratories said.  “Equally important is the critical response praising the powerful performances by Woody, Ben and Samantha and Oren’s skill at blending such a sincere story with humor and hopefulness. At theaters, we saw attendance doubling from Friday to Saturday which shows word of mouth continues to build. Oren Moverman and the filmmaking team made an incredible film and we’re so pleased with it’s success this weekend.”

The film will open November 20th nationwide in 15 cities, further expanding into Thanksgiving weekend.

Other openers this weekend included Cinema Libre’s release of Philippe Diaz’s doc “The End of Poverty?,” which made an impressive debut at City Cinemas Village East Cinema in New York.  The film - which looks at the root causes of poverty since colonial times -  beat out seven other films at the same location, including Disney’s “A Christmas Carol,” by grossing an estimated $11,000. Also on a sole NYC screen was the debut of Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s “Uncertainty.” The IFC Films release - starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt - managed to top “Poverty?” with a $12,235 gross.

Less potent but still fair debuts came care of Adam Salky’s “Dare,” Emily and Sarah Kunstler’s “William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe,” and Sebastian Gutierrez’s “Women In Trouble.” “Dare” - care of Image Entertainment - grossed $12,036 from 2 screens, averaging $6,018; “Kunstler” - a Arthouse Films release - grossed $10,106 from 2 screens, averaging $5,053; and “Women” - through Screen Media Films, took in $14,000 from 3 screens, averaging $4,667.  Considering the onslaught of competition, all three film’s debuts are quite reasonable, though obviously quite short of spectacular.

The weekend’s only major disappointment (though probably an expected one for most) was Focus Features’ semi-wide release of Richard Curtis’s “Pirate Radio,” or the film formerly known as “The Boat That Rocked.”  A period comedy starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman that details an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960’s, the film grossed $2,869,377 from 882 screens, averaging only $3,253.

Finally, another considerable success story came out of a holdover that, while not quite “Precious,” is almost just as impressive in its own right.  Frederick Wiseman’s doc “La Danse,” which explores the Paris Opera Ballet, doubled its gross from last weekend after adding a second screen at New York’s Film Forum.  After setting a house capacity record at the Film Forum last week - selling out every single show during the entire week - “La Danse” added a second screen at the theater and took in $29,000 this weekend. The cume for the Zipporah Films release now stands at $67,000 since its November 4th opening in New York.

The film opens exclusive engagements in Los Angeles and Chicago next weekend, followed by openings in the majority of the top 20 markets in late November and December.

For more on “La Danse,” check out indieWIRE‘s new “Box Office 2.0” column from last week.

indieWIRE:BOT tracks independent/specialty releases compiled from Rentrak Theatrical, which collects studio reported data as well as box-office figures from North American theatre locations. To be included in the indieWIRE Box Office Chart, distributors must submit information about their films to Rentrak at studiogrosses@rentrak.com  by the end of the day each Monday..