The Indie Month That Was
By Tom Houseman
June 2, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Expanding/Continuing:
La Mission: With only Benjamin Bratt serving as the drawing power on this project, this project hasn’t had much luck breaking out with mainstream success, although it’s held well throughout April and May. Bratt’s passion project, which was directed by his brother, has consistently had weekly takes over $100,000 as it’s worked its way to $818,886, hitting nearly 50 theaters at its widest. Based on the impressive weekly holds, La Mission should have no problem breaking $1 million, although $2 million seems out of reach.
The closest comparison I can think of for this project is The Lost City, Andy Garcia’s passion project about the fall of Cuba. Another Latin-themed film, albeit one with much bigger names attached to it, The Lost City made nearly $2.5 million. Of course, Lost City’s $9.6 million budget is likely much higher than La Mission’s. While it can’t be considered a hit, Bratt’s film will likely be looked at as a success after DVD rentals are accounted for.
Exit Through the Gift Shop: Between word-of-mouth and plenty of press, Banksy’s directorial debut has found a considerable amount of success as it continued to expand. It is only just now on the downswing, after having hit a wide release of 45 theaters, and is very near $2 million in domestic gross. This documentary about the evolution of street art has proven to be one of the most impressive indie hits of the year thus far. Of course, I will take this opportunity, as I have taken every opportunity, to tell you to GO SEE THIS MOVIE!
To put this in perspective, since 2005 only 20 documentaries have made more than $2 million, a number Exit Through the Gift Shop should easily outpace. When you remove from that list all movies directed by Michael Moore and other movies that are similarly about controversial political issues (global warming, evolution etc.), all movies about adorable animals (including babies), and all movies that have a big star as a drawing point for audiences, only Man on Wire, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Wordplay, Rize, The September Issue, and Mad Hot Ballroom have made more than Exit has so far. For a documentary without a movie star or a major studio behind it, that’s an impressive accomplishment.
The Secret in Their Eyes: Every year the Best Foreign Language Oscar winner tries to cash in on the indie cred that comes with that title, and this Argentinean crime drama is doing a pretty solid job of that. It’s already expanded to 155 theaters and doesn’t seem to be slowing down yet, as it’s already made almost $3.5 million and could make it to $5 or even 6 million before it’s done.
That’s an impressive take for a Foreign Language Oscar winner. Only three such films have broken $5 million since the anomaly that was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Counterfeiters came in at $5.5 million, Nowhere in Africa hit $6.2 million, and The Lives of Others broke out to $11.3 million. Considering that Secret’s American take is gravy considering it’s made more than $20 million in the rest of the world, but it’s still a nice number as far as gravy goes.
Major Releases (100+ Theaters):
Babies: Speaking of documentaries about adorable animals, Babies was trying to be this year’s March of the Penguins, except SPOILER ALERT: instead of penguins, it’s about babies. Turns out that people aren’t as willing to shell out their cash on something that they can find in their own baby carriage, and Babies hasn’t been the runaway success that Focus Features execs were praying it would be. Still in its first month of release, it’s already made more than $6 million, which is undoubtedly more than Focus paid for it.
Has anyone ever heard of a documentary being frontloaded? Babies might be the only non-Michael Moore doc to claim that term, but the numbers don’t lie. Opening on Mother’s Day weekend on 534 theaters, Babies made more than $2.1 million, more than a third of its total thus far. It dropped 53% its second weekend, an awful number for a family film. Still, nobody’s crying about this number, except perhaps the babies, but really, who cares about babies?
Kites: I was really hoping that this film would follow the trend of Oceans and Babies by just being about kites, but alas, it’s some kind of action romance movie “remixed” by Bret Ratner (a phrase that gives me nightmares). Clearly people were less completely unaware of this film’s existence than I was, as it very nearly cracked $1 million its opening weekend. Apparently the original pre-Ratner version was a huge hit in India, and there’s a small niche market in this country for Bollywood films. Of course, niche markets usually lead to huge drop-offs for films, so it’s not surprising that Kites dropped a Tyler Perry-esque 69% its second weekend. That gives it a total of $1.475 million, and while $2 million isn’t out of the question, anything more than that would be a big surprise.
Notable Minor Releases(
Harry Brown: Not all “old man takes revenge with guns” films act the same, and Harry Brown is no Taken. Still, its numbers far aren’t embarrassing, just underwhelming, but if it expands beyond its current 60 theater count it might be able to make up some ground. So far the Michael Caine vehicle has made just over $1 million, which against a budget of $7.3 million is a bit concerning, but not too awful considering it looks like it will continue to expand. That plus DVD money will probably make this a win for Samuel Goldwyn, but not the hit they might have been hoping for.
Human Centipede: I find the fact that anyone actually paid money to see this movie a little horrifying, and clearly I’m not the only one who was not excited about the idea of watching girls stitched to each other in the most disgusting way you can think of. This gross-out horror film has continued to expand but isn’t making much bank, sitting with about $136,000 after four weeks of release. IFC tries every once in a while to expand a film beyond two screens, and this attempt has (pardon the disturbing pun) bitten them on their ass. It likely won’t expand much past its current theater count of 19, and $200,000 seems to be the ceiling for Human Centipede. Oh, also, there’s a sequel, so we’ve got that to look forward to.
Please Give: Nicole Holofcener’s films have never been big box-office hits, but her latest is underwhelming even by her low standards. Her latest “lifestyles of the upper-middle class and dysfunctional” expose has barely made a blip on the radar, even as it’s expanded past 50 theaters. Thus far it’s standing at around $1.4 million, about $12 million less than her last film, Friends with Money. Of course, that one starred Jennifer Aniston and had a budget more than twice the size of Please Give’s, which stars Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet. This one won’t make back its budget in theatrical release alone, as it cost Sony Classics $3 million, but it’ll come close.
Princess Kiaulani: Remember Q’oriankaKilcher, the breakout star of Terrence Malick’sThe New World? No? Well her first film since that didn’t exactly make a splash at the box-office. The biopic opened on 33 theaters, making a little over $186,000, but that was pretty much the end of the good news. Despite expanding to a wide release of 47 the following weekend, Princess Kaiulani hasn’t been able to build much on its opening. Thus far the film stands with a total of $626,985, and Roadside Attractions has to be disappointed with this number, as the film cost $9 million to make.
Solitary Man: This Michael Douglas vehicle is just beginning its expansion, so it's hard to say where things are going to go from here. The film debuted with $94,936 its opening weekend on four screens, but good reviews, especially raves for Michael Douglas, could buoy this film and give it some serious legs. Considering this film has a $15 million budget, it’s going to need a much more significant expansion and a marketing push to break even. Of course, if Douglas is able to get any Oscar buzz for his performance it will give this film more attention, but that will only help with DVD sales and rental. Anchor Bay Films has been all over the map this year, with City Island doing quite well and After.Life bombing, so they are really hoping that they can develop a hit out of Solitary Man.
Casino Jack and the United States of Money: Exit through the Gift Shop may have been a sleeper hit, but that doesn’t represent a trend for small release documentaries, as evidenced by the results of this film. The documentary about lobbyist Jack Abramoff (not to be confused with Casino Jack, a fictional narrative about the same man) hasn’t been able to find an audience despite its topical themes. The film debuted on nine theaters to an opening week of just over $40,000, but despite expansion it hasn’t built on that number. So far the box office for the doc is $136,691, and while it might continue to expand, a quarter of a million seems to be the cap.
Mother and Child: It’s gotten off to a slow start, but if it keeps on expanding this drama could end up with some thoroughly respectable numbers. Attempting to trick people into it by debuting on Mother’s Day, this drama had an opening weekend of just over $43,000 on four theaters. Since then, Mother and Child has picked up its game; it expanded to 37 theaters by its third weekend, but might be slowing down. With a cast that includes Oscar nominees Annette Benning, Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts, you’d think that Sony Classics would put some more oomph into the marketing and expansion of this one, but it seems like they’re dropping the ball. With a budget of $7 million, Mother and Child will need a lot more than its current $336,545 to be considered anything but a flop.
Looking for Eric: Ken Loach’s last film, the drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley, took in almost $2 million in the US, but that one could be advertised as a Palm d’Or winner. He doesn’t have the same luck with his latest film, a comedy, and is unlikely to find the same success. It’s still in the beginning of its expansion, having only hit six screens, and stands with a total of $34,035. Reviews have been very positive, so a steady expansion and positive word-of-mouth could be very promising for this import.
Holy Rollers: With a premise that involves the words “Orthodox Jewish drug dealer” and a cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha, I can’t figure out how this isn’t the number one film in America. Possibly the fact that it’s only expanded to 21 theaters so far might be an explanation. This crime drama debuted on only three theaters, opening to just under $40,000, but looks to expand significantly in the following weeks. First Independent Pictures is hoping to have a minor hit on their hands, as this is only their seventh release to crack six figures.