The Indie Month That Was
By Tom Houseman
May 5, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Expanding/Continuing Indies:
The Runaways: The Sundance hit could have made a big splash in the market had it had more of a marketing push and a wider release. Instead, it platformed at 243 theaters and has accumulated only $3.2 million. The film that featured two Twilight stars in Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning stayed under the radar, performing solidly in April with $1.4 million during its second month in theaters, not anywhere close to what many expected on the girl-rock biopic.
Chloe: This sexy thriller has proven to be the indie equivalent of a one-weekend wonder. After opening on 350 theaters to a mediocre $1.28 million its opening week, bad word-of-mouth damned this film to consistent drops in theater count and 40% losses on a week-to-week basis. The film has barely doubled the gross of its opening week, proving that not even a naked Amanda Seyfried can pull in the cash if the reviews are this bad.
The Ghost Writer: The controversy surrounding this film had nothing to do with the film itself, but rather its director, whom you might have heard of if you have ever held a newspaper. It’s not surprising, then, that it has proven to be the biggest arthouse film so far this year. Polanski’s political drama opened in late March on 819 screens, and while it hasn’t been a hit, it’s made consistent cash. It’s been losing screens in April, making only about $4.1 million this month to give it a running total of $14 million as it winds down its theatrical release.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: The adaptation of the international hit novel didn’t get much of a release in America, but really, any cash it made on this side of the ocean is just gravy, as it’s already made more than $80 million in Europe. Still, with $3.9 million, it is thus far the highest-grossing foreign film of 2010, and continues to add screens. Europe’s equivalent of The Bourne Identity made the bulk of its cash in April, about $3 million, hitting a platform of 152 theaters. Hollywood is already drooling over the cash it will make when they Americanize the film, with David Fincher directing and Brad Pitt and Carey Mulligan likely to be starring.
Greenberg: Noah Baumbach’s name has never been equated with bankability, but maybe Focus Features was hoping that having Ben Stiller’s face on the poster would help. To an extent it did, as Baumbach’s latest easily outgrossedMargot at the Wedding, but could never expand to a significant amount of theaters. Greenberg platformed at 186 theaters, and did a solid job of holding onto those theaters, thanks mostly to the name power of Baumbach and Stiller. The film lost 25-40% of its gross on a week-to-week basis, and managed to make around $2.2 million in April, giving it a total of $3.7 million. This is pocket change for Stiller, but a large fortune for co-star Greta Gerwig, the queen of the mumblecore movement whose films don’t crack six figures in theaters.
City Island: This family dramedy has done a decent job of expanding slowly and making some serious cash. With a cast that includes Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies and Alan Arkin, City Island expanded to 57 theaters in April and has consistently increased its gross on a week-to-week basis. It’s made $1.2 million in April and will hope to increase that take as it continues its theatrical release in May.
Big Indies (100+ Theaters):
The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond: If this film were a character in a horror movie, it would be the completely inconsequential person who dies first. A dreadful looking B-Horror flick, this film opened on a surprisingly wide 404 theaters. I’ll admit that when I saw the trailer I thought it was one of the joke trailers from Grindhouse, but that didn’t stop it from taking in $224,409 its opening week, a whopping $555 per theater average. Where did it go from there? Nobody knows, as the Internet provides no information on its box-office take since. It’s like it just… vanished [cue ominous music].
The Joneses: This moderately clever looking satire did about as well as most film satires do, i.e. not very. An attempt to expand to 217 theaters its second weekend didn’t bear much fruit, as it still dropped over 40% from its opening weekend. The David Duchovny/Demi Moore starrer is creeping in on about $1 million, not exactly living the American Dream, but not horribly.
Letters to God: You might remember this Christian-themed film making a small splash its opening weekend. It opened on 900 theaters and made $1.2 million, cracking the top ten and turning a few heads in the process. That was pretty much the extent of its success, as it hemorrhaged theaters in subsequent weekends and has barely managed to double its remarkable opening weekend. Thus far, this excuse to steal money from gullible Christians has made about $2.45 million, impressive for such a small film targeting such a niche market.
The Perfect Game: Another inspirational film about children, this sports flick was even more frontloaded than Letters to God. After being stuck on a studio shelf for nearly a year, the Clifton Collins Jr. starrer got released on 417 theaters and made a sold half a million its opening weekend. Remember the Titans it is not, though, as this tale of Mexican little leaguers has not yet doubled its opening weekend. It’s closing in on half a million dollars, thanks mostly to the money it's made in Arizona, where law enforcement officials see it as research for catching illegal immigrants.
Small Indies (10-100 Theaters):
After.Life: Abominable reviews damage indie films far more than they do Hollywood fare, and this film is proof of that. The odd looking horror film opened on 41 theaters to a decent $60,000, but that was the absolute last bit of good news for this critically lambasted movie. Consecutive weekend drops of 70+ and 80+% make even the Saw films look good. So far, this one has just barely cracked $100,000 and might make literally a few more dollars before it’s gone forever.
La Mission: A very personal film from the Bratt brothers (Peter wrote and directed, Benjamin stars), it’s done a decent job of raking in a few bucks, and is still trying to expand. So far, it’s expanded its reach to 27 theaters and has made $359,469, which isn’t much, but is better than nothing for a film that’s had virtually no marketing.
The Secret in Their Eyes: Every year the Foreign Language Film Oscar winner manages to make in a couple million dollars, and this Argentinean crime drama looks like it won’t be the exception to that rule. Still, it will be on the low side of the trend, closer to The Barbarian Invasions and Departures than Life is Beautiful and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It will probably continue to expand throughout May, and so far it has made just over $1 million. We’ll check back next month to see how it ends up doing.
Exit Through The Gift Shop: I’ve already talked some about this wonderful documentary, so I’ll keep the gushing brief. Banksy’s directorial debut is still expanding, managing to make the jump from micro to limited release as it cracked 11 theaters. How far it will go depends on word-of-mouth, so go see it and then tell your friends. So far it’s made about $400,000, a pretty solid amount for a documentary not made by Michael Moore.
The City Of Your Final Destination: This is James Ivory’s second film since the death of his long-time producing partner Ismael Merchant. Not surprisingly, it’s a sweeping costume drama, but it doesn’t look like it’ll do anything close to Remains of the Day money. It’s struggling to expand, jumping up to 22 theaters its second weekend and making $69,000. However, against a budget of $8.3 million, this Anthony Hopkins starrer is going to lose money.
Micro Indies (
Breaking Upwards: This tiny film got a decent amount of press for its minuscule budget, and used that attention to its benefit. It did solid business for a couple of weekends, platforming on three theaters before the bottom dropped out and it dropped 70% in a week. Not including the money its made through being available On Demand on Comcast, the IFC Film has made just over $60,000. Before you laugh at that low a number, consider the fact that this is four times the film’s budget. How many Hollywood movies can say that?
Don McKay: A quirky looking neo-noir, this one was really hoping to capitalize on the name power of its star, Thomas Haden Church. It turns out that the Sandman can only do so much, though. This one opened on seven theaters and made $13,722, but its second weekend it plummeted, dropping all but one of its theaters and making a paltry $750. Hopefully DVD release will salvage this one.
The Greatest: What happened to this weepy drama? Does anybody know? Does anybody care? Word on the Internet is that it opened in eight theaters to an opening weekend of $33,616, but from there its scent vanished, and no information is available on what happened to it from there. Still, unless this Pierce Brosnan/Susan Sarandon/Carey Mulligan tear jerker suddenly started raking it in, there’s no way it will come close to approaching its $6 million budget.
Everyone Else: I take full credit for whatever success this movie has found. Since I wrote an article imploring everyone to see it, it has doubled its theater count and tripled its opening weekend gross. So far this German drama has made $35,508, not too shabby
No One Knows About Persian Cats: It’s hard to tell exactly how much this Iranian film has made. As it’s an IFC release, it’s also available On Demand to anyone with Comcast (which is how I saw it). IFC doesn’t release information about that money, so the only thing we know is that so far this musical docudrama has made $23,705 on two theaters.
Paper Man: Considering the pedigree of the cast, I’m surprised this comedy didn’t open to more than three theaters. The Jeff Daniels/Ryan Reynolds quirk-fest opened to $8,613. It’s clearly hoping to expand and make a little more dough, especially considering how much of a draw Reynolds has been of late, but without any advertising backing it up that’s going to be a tricky proposition.