It was a pretty quiet week at the nation's box office, with many noting that the top film, the Nicholas Cage-starrer BANGKOK DANGEROUS, grossed less than $8 million, the lowest tally for a #1 film in five years.
And looking ahead, it seems that much was learned from last fall's chaotic and packed documentary schedule. Larry Charles' RELIGULOUS is one of the few major nonfiction's on the horizon and that doesn't arrive until October. That leaves a tidy window for the two big hits of the late summer (and Oscar frontrunners) MAN ON WIRE and TROUBLE THE WATER. Both continued to attract strong audiences this weekend.
WIRE is now in 92 theaters and is still averaging more than $2,200 per in its 7th week in release. That's by far one of the strongest holds for a film all year (by comparison YOUNG@HEART was averaging $1,517 in its 7th weekend and EXPELLED was basically out of theaters). TROUBLE is playing in 9 cinemas and is still averaging more than $4,500 in its 3rd weekend.
Both AMERICAN TEEN and ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD now look to finish between $900K and $1M, a disappointment for the former but a bit of a coup for the latter considering its troubled distributor.
Outside the top 15, Zeitgeist's CHRIS & DON. A LOVE STORY reaches the $200K milestone with little fanfare. Combined with their success with UP THE YANGTZE and TROUBLE THE WATER, Zeitgeist is emerging as one of the top doc distributors of the year (they share the title with Magnolia). They launch STRANDED I'VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS on October 22.
Here's the box office top 15 of 2008 through this weekend:
1. U23D (National Geographic) $ 9,442,761
2. EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED (Rocky) $ 7,614,754
3. SHINE A LIGHT (Paramount Vantage) $ 5,355,376
4. YOUNG@HEART (Fox Searchlight) $ 3,938,191
5. MAN ON WIRE (Magnolia) $ 1,802,569
6. UP THE YANGTZE (Zeitgeist/KinoSmith) $ 1,323,651
7. GONZO (Magnolia) $ 1,168,623
8. AMERICAN TEEN (Paramount Vantage) $ 899,362
9. ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (THINK) $ 837,767
10. I.O.U.S.A. (Roadside Attractions) $ 741,131
11. VINCE VAUGHN'S WILD WEST... (Picturehouse) $ 603,894
12. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA... (Weinstein) $ 384,955
13. THE SINGING REVOLUTION (Abramorama) $ 330,017
14. BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER* (Magnolia) $ 308,575
15. TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE (THINKFilm) $ 274,661
Comments