Box Office: Audiences Lovin’ “Summer” (UPDATED)

A scene from Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker.” Image courtesy of Summit Entertainment.

Meanwhile, the slow, steady expansion of Kathryn Bigelow’s four-week-old “The Hurt Locker” appears to still be working as the film hit lucky number 13 on the overall chart.  The Summit Entertainment release - which follows a bomb disposal team in Iraq - went from 60 to 93 screens Friday and managed to gross an estimated $740,224 over the weekend - a 23% rise from last weekend (note that aboot $48,000 of that came from three screens in Canada, where the film is being released by Maple Distribution, not Summit). That gross resulted in a per-theater-average of $7,875, a reasonable drop from last weekend’s $10,686.  “The Hurt Locker”‘s biggest test yet comes next weekend, when it will head to 200+ screens across North America. As of Sunday, the film is estimated to have grossed $2,148,619.

Joining “Summer” and “Locker” in top 20 of the overall chart generally reserved for studio fare was Sony Classics’ duo of “Moon” and “Whatever Works,” which both began their respective descents after six and five weekends of decent numbers.  Duncan Jones’ “Moon” added just 5 screens, bringing its total count to 252.  It managed to drop only 22%, grossing another $525,740 and taking its total to a very respectable $2,654,338. And while expectations were much higher for Woody Allen’s “Whatever Works,” its additional $471,288 gross this weekend, dropping off 30% (decent considering it lost 92 screens) brought its total to $3,890,755. That’s not “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” or “Match Point” money, but the film could still end up grossing $6-7 million, which would put it well ahead of other recent Woody efforts like “Melinda and Melinda,” “Anything Else” and previous Sony Classics release “Sweet and Lowdown.”

Other openers this weekend included a promising sole-screen debut from $12,439 gross from Max Färberböck’s “A Woman in Berlin,” which took in $12,439 for Strand Releasing; International Film Circuit’s release of Aron Gaudet’s festival favorite “The Way We Get By” which grossed a fair $7,154 from its sole engagement at New York’s IFC Center; Screen Media Films’ release of Boaz Yakin’s “Death In Love,” which grossed a weak $14,296 from 4 screens, for a $3,574 average.

Last weekend’s top opener, Lynn Shelton’s “Humpday,” unfortunately did not hold on to its momentum. The film expanded from 2 to 5 screens but saw its gross actually drop 5% to $27,251.  Its $5,450 average certainly isn’t disastrous, but its disappointing considering the warm reviews and potent buzz the film received leading up to its release.

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.