The Thanksgiving holiday weekend had a sparse amount of openings in the specialty box office space. In fact, Michael Apted’s documentary 63 Up was one of the only — if not the only — new titles. The BritBox docu had an exclusive single-theater opening at New York’s Film Forum and earned a confident $15,150 for the three-day weekend and an estimated five-day gross of $20,015. It’s a fairly solid debut for one run. The film is part of Apted’s ongoing Up series which started in 1970 with 7 Up and followed a group of British-born children. After six decades, Apted has watched them become adults and seen everything life has thrown at them. With 63 Up, Apted sheds a light on his subjects as they have reached retirement age. The film is set to open in Los Angeles on December 6 before expanding to the top 10 markets on December 10.
Things were sweet for Shia LaBeouf’s critically acclaimed father-son drama Honey Boy as it crossed the million-dollar mark on a Thanksgiving weekend. The Alma Har’el-directed Amazon pic earned an estimated $390,850 during the regular 3-day weekend as it expanded to 186 theaters bringing its cume to $1,516,597. The film is set to go nationwide just in time for the Golden Globe nominations.
The Focus Features and Participant media collab Dark Waters expanded to 94 theaters in its second weekend out earning an estimated $630,000 during the three-day weekend with its five-day number coming in at $860,000, bringing its cume to $977,000. It performed well in Phoenix and where it had its top performance at the Camelview as well as Cincinnati’s Mariemont where it ranked #1. It’s doesn’t necessarily have terrible numbers, but they aren’t estimates to call home about. Even so, the Todd Haynes legal thriller starring Mark Ruffalo continues to sit confidently at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and with Haynes’ name attached to it, it still can be an Oscar contender despite its OK performance.
Now in its eighth week out, Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite continues to latch on to the box office and, from the looks of this weekend’s numbers, the Neon dark comedy will reach $20 million by next week. The film dropped to 382 screens and is still holding strong with a three-day estimate of $1,020,000. This brings its cume to $18,284,045.
A24’s critically acclaimed Waves went from 21 screens to 47 and had an OK holiday weekend with a three-day estimated gross of $140,995 and a five-day gross of $193,430. The gripping Trey Edward Shults family drama starring Sterling K. Brown and breakout Kelvin Harrison Jr. currently sits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and continues to have good responses from audiences, giving a good word-of-mouth push before it rolls out to the top markets next weekend.
The Lighthouse has a little more shine left in it as it earned an estimated three-day gross of $116,807 and five-day of $158,012. Now in its sixth week, Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit is still hopping around with some solid runs peppered about in 730 theaters with a three-day estimate of $1,232,000 and a five-day of $1,764,000. With a cume of $18,396,000, the World War II satire will likely cross $20 million next week.
*All weekend numbers below are the three-day grosses for the holiday weekend.
NEW RELEASES
63 Up (Britbox) – Week 1 [1 Theater] Weekend/Cume $15,150
RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND
Dark Waters (Focus Features) – Week 2 [94 Theaters] Weekend $630,000, Average $9,229, Cume $977,000
HOLDOVERS/THIRD+ WEEKEND
Waves (A24) – Week 23[47 Screens] Weekend $140,995, Average $3,000, Cume $557,747
Honey Boy (Amazon Studios) – Week 4 [186 Theaters] Weekend $390,850, Average $2,101, Cume $1,516,597
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight) – Week 7 [730 Theaters] Weekend $1,232,000, Average $1,688, Cume $18,396,000
Judy (Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment) – Week 10 [37 Screens] Weekend $12,820, Average $346, Cume $23,879,404
The Lighthouse (A24) – Week 7 [90 Screens] Weekend $116,807, Average $1,298, Cume $10,392,148
Pain and Glory (Sony Pictures Classics) – Week 9 [152 Screens] Weekend $106,579, Average $701, Cume $3,492,681
Parasite (Neon) – Week 8 [382 Screens] Weekend $1,020,000, Average $2,670, Cume $18,284,045