Specialty Box Office: ‘Win Win’ Situation For Two Fox Searchlight Comedies

Weekend Box Office: March 25th through the 27th

Two off-beat comedies released by Fox Searchlight within five weeks of each other look to have been fruitful investments. In its second weekend, “Win Win” saw a 213.2% increase in grosses and maintained a $20,478 average. In its seventh week, “Cedar Rapids” was on the decline but managed to surpass $6 million. These two Sundance alumni don’t exactly scream “commercial,” but after recent underwhelming studio comedies, Fox Searchlight definitely has pushed to be the indie distributor to fill that void. The distributor has certainly tasted success from similar films like “Juno” and “Little Miss Sunshine” and has clearly continued to chase that quirky magic with recent acquisitions.

Speaking of studio slumps, dramatic studio releases have not been in any better shape recently. The specialty market, however, struck debut gold again this weekend with four promising releases. Miral in particular made a great first impression following a $16,250 average in only four locations. While director Julian Schnabel will most likely be remembered much more for 2007’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Miral” seems to be at least outperforming early predictions for the foreign film that didn’t look like it would connect well with American audiences.

U.S Indie:
In its third week, “Kill the Irishman” took in a disappointing $3,659 average in 41 theaters. The Anchor Bay release failed to continue momentum from last week despite adding another $150,000 to the total gross. The film from director Jonathan Hensleigh will need a much needed boost next weekend end if it’s to continue expanding.

World Cinema:
Despite an unusually slow weekend for all U.S. indie releases not from Fox Searchlight, imports like Potiche from director Francois Ozon saw great success. The film starring Gerard Depardieu (and a Catherine Deneuve who hit the late night talk show circuit) made a promising $12,143 average in 7 locations. Distributor Music Box Films will likely continue to bank on Depardieu/Deneuve’s star power as it slowly expands into other markets around the country.

Mia and the Magoo made animated magic this past weekend in a single New York location. The French film from director Jacque-Remy Girerd made $17,200, and new distributor Gkids will hopefully expand the film into many more locations later this month. “Magoo” features a true artistic feat of 500,000 hand-painted frames of animation.

IFC films expanded “Certified Copy” into 49 locations in its third week. The film managed a positive 65.7% increase and is holding on for dear life with a $4,490 average.

It was also announced that “The King’s Speech” will take out the F-word for a PG release on April 1st. No this is not an April Fool’s joke, but a studio head doing some trimming to maximize profits on a golden title. 

Documentary:
One of the best holdovers from last weekend was surprisingly enough a documentary. Zeitgeist’s “Bill Cunningham New York only expanded to three locations but maintained a steady $22,633 average. Only time will tell how the New York-centric film will do outside of the Big Apple.

Specialty Box Office Top 5

Box Office Top 10

Next Weekend:
Insidious, Super, Trust, Rubber, In a Better World, Source Code, Hop