Indie-Film Summer Box Office Recap: 'Marigold' and 'Moonrise' Lead Potent, Female-Friendly Season

"Moonrise Kingdom" Focus Features

Summer's Top Twenty Highest-Grossing Specialty Films*:

1. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight)
Gross-to-Date: $45,955,000

2. Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features)
Gross-to-Date: $44,185,000

3. 2016: Obama's America (Rocky Mountain)
Gross-to-Date: $20,185,000

4. To Rome With Love (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gross-to-Date: $16,171,000

5. The Intouchables (The Weinstein Company)
Gross-to-Date: $11,111,807

6. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)
Gross-to-Date: $9,775,000

7. Bernie (Millennium Entertainment)
Gross-to-Date: $9,165,100

8. Safety Not Guaranteed (Film District)
Gross-to-Date: $3,381,400

9. Girl In Progress (Lionsgate)
Gross-to-Date: $2,609,412

10. Ruby Sparks (Fox Searchlight)
Gross-to-Date: $2,180,090

11. Celeste and Jesse Forever (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gross-to-Date: $2,094,000

12. The Queen of Versailles (Magnolia Pictures)
Gross-to-Date: $1,848,528

13. Crooked Arrows (Branded/Peck Entertainment)
Gross-to-Date: $1,832,541

14. Hysteria (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gross-to-Date: $1,773,027

15. Your Sister's Sister (IFC Films)
Gross-to-Date: $1,597,486

16. Killer Joe (LD Entertainment)
Gross-to-Date: $1,450,000

17. Robot & Frank (Samuel Goldwyn)
Gross-to-Date: $1,363,000

18. Take This Waltz (Magnolia)
Gross-to-Date: $1,207,343

19. Farewell My Queen (Cohen Media Group)
Gross-to-Date: $1,203,522

20. Headhunters (Magnolia)
Gross-to-Date: $1,200,010

*Grosses through September 3, 2012, and only including films that opened on or after April 27, 2012; also note that "specialty film" is defined as a film that opened on fewer than 500 screens and was released by an independent distributor or studio subsidiary.

Peter Knegt is Indiewire's Senior Editor and box office analyst. Follow him on Twitter and on his blog.