Specialty Box Office: 'Amour' and 'Quartet' Lead Slow Weekend For Specialty Market

While the vast majority of the independent film world was busy in Park City scoping out Sundance's 2013 offerings, the indie box office saw a Sundance 2012 alum -- Sheldon Candis's "LUV" -- as the sole newcomer on a slow weekend. The film -- distributed by Indomina -- opened on 45 screens and found a reasonable $2,000 per-theater-average. Its total gross over the weekend was $90,000.

Overall, the weekend was led by two holdovers each featuring casts whose average age is well over 70. Michael Haneke's "Amour" and Dustin Hoffman's "Quartet" both expanded very nicely this weekend, the former boosted from its 5 Oscar nominations and the latter impressively holding strong despite a shutout.

"Amour" grossed $431,261 from 36 theaters (up from 15), a 61% boost from last weekend. That made for a $11,479 per-theater-average, the highest of any film in release. Ahead of further expansion, the film's total now stands at $1,184,956. It should easily overtake the $2,222,862 Haneke's last film -- "The White Ribbon" -- grossed in early 2010.

With a cast led by Maggie Smith, "Quartet" expanded from 2 to 32 theaters and jumped 579%, grossing $320,000 for a strong $10,000 average. The film's total now stands at $392,000.

Full list of numbers for reporting openers and holdovers below, ranked by per-theater-average.

The Debuts:

1. LUV
Distributor: Indomina
Weeks in Release: 1
Gross:  $90,000
Theaters: 45
Average: $2,000
Cumulative Total:  $90,000

The Holdovers

1. Amour
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 5
Gross:  $431,261
Theaters: 36 (up from 15)
Average: $11,479
Cumulative Total:  $1,184,956

2. Quartet
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
Weeks in Release: 2
Gross:  $320,000
Theaters: 32 (up from 2)
Average: $10,000
Cumulative Total:  $392,000

3. The Impossible
Distributor: Summit
Weeks in Release: 5
Gross:  $2,530,000
Theaters: 886 (up from 808)
Average: $2,856
Cumulative Total:  $10,246,565

4. Hyde Park on Hudson
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 7
Gross: $428,452
Theaters: 194 (down from 246)
Average: $2,208
Cumulative Total: $4,847,121

5. Rust and Bone
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 9
Gross: $246,835
Theaters: 168 (up from 79)
Average: $1,469
Cumulative Total: $1,484,377

6. Anna Karenina
Distributor: Focus Features
Weeks in Release: 11
Gross: $156,795
Theaters: 117 (down from 144)
Average: $1,340
Cumulative Total: $12,321,266

7. Searching For Sugar Man
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 26
Gross:  $32,029
Theaters: 27 (up from 22)
Average: $1,186
Cumulative Total:  $3,138,421

8. West of Memphis
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Weeks in Release: 4
Gross:  $8,340
Theaters: 9 (up from 2)
Average: $927
Cumulative Total:  $56,184

9. Chasing Ice
Distributor: Submarine Deluxe
Weeks in Release: 11
Gross: $29,746
Theaters: 39 (down from 42)
Average: $763
Cumulative Total: $1,000,467