Box Office: “September” Skyrockets; Finds 5th Best Doc Debut Ever (UPDATED)

A scene from R.J. Cutler's "The September Issue." Image courtesy of Roadside Attractions.

R.J. Cutler‘s Anna Wintour doc “The September Issue” made a very fashionable entrance into theaters this weekend.  According to final numbers provided by Rentrak, the Roadside Attractions release - which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival - grossed a massive $220,416 from six New York screens, giving it an average of $36,736.  That’s the second-best per-theater-average of any 2009 release (behind “Sunshine Cleaning”) and the fifth best documentary debut ever, behind 1995 IMAX featurette “Across The Sea of Time,” Davis Guggenheim’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” Michael Moore’s “Sicko” and Paul Provenza’s “The Aristocrats” (for a full list of the top doc openings, click here).

“We’re thrilled with this opening,” Roadside Attractions’ Howard Cohen told indieWIRE this afternoon, “people are fascinated by Anna Wintour and wanted to see this intimate and funny film, the first real portrait of a legend who’s reigned at Vogue for 20 years.  Of course the recognition factor from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ was a major factor in getting this kind of immediate and large response—we knew that and helped that along.  We did giant wildposing all over Manhattan with an image of her and a quote referring to TDWP.    As a result we held our own at big commercial multiplexes like the Lincoln Square and the Empire 25 on 42nd st.  But RJ Cutler did a great job, it’s a beautiful and well-made film and people are loving the movie itself, too, which is great… As Andre Leon Talley would say, ‘there is a famine of beauty, honey” and this film is clearly satisfying people’s desire for it!!’”

“Issue” also marked the highest per-theater-average opening for a film in the history of both distributor Roadside Attractions, and producer A&E IndieFilms. Additionally, none of the previous four record holders found their opening number with big multiple in one market. “Issue” was release entirely in New York City, with the Chelsea 9 proving its big seller, grossing $22,464 on Friday and $22,054 on Saturday.

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Roadside is planning on expanding “Issue” further into the New York market during Labor day weekend, and are saving their first big expansion until after the holiday, on September 11th, where they will be opening an additional 21 markets and be on somewhere between 95 and 120 screens.  They are planning to have fashion event-tie ins in almost every market. And though it’s all but certain the numbers from fashion-centric New York won’t hold in other markets, even if “Issue” holds on to a fraction of its debut average, it should be destined for significant success. -For information on the the films that opened - some with a lot of promise in the shadow of “Issue”‘s powerful debut, please continue to page 2-   (1 of 2)  Next Page › posted on September 1, 2009 |Share