As we enter the holiday week, A24’s Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler has a solid weekend in its second limited weekend on five screens in New York and Los Angeles. The Safdie Brothers crime thriller was the biggest per-screen average opening ever for A24 and, despite dropping from its limited opening last week, the film earned an estimated $232,479, crossing the million-dollar mark with a cume of $1,010,343 — and that is just on five screens. With its 93% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A- Cinemascore, we are hearing that its second weekend had multiple sell-out shows. With word of mouth as well as multiple nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and National Board of Review — all of which have Sandler on their best actor list — Uncut Gems has strong momentum heading into its expansion on December 25.
Also hitting a milestone is Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit. The WWII satire has been inching towards the $20 million mark and this weekend it hopped past it, earning an estimated $173,000 this weekend bringing its cume to $20,339,000. Overall, Jojo Rabbit had a good 2019 as it enters the holiday season and continues its awards season run with multiple nominations to its name including Golden Globe and SAG Award nods as well as numerous recognition from critics circles around the country. If the film gets some Oscar love, the awards recognition can give it a boost at the box office.
Jay Roach’s Fox News #MeToo drama Bombshell expanded to a staggering 1,480 theaters after a fantastic four-theater limited run last week. The Lionsgate/Bron film starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie was down Saturday approximately -4% from Friday and earned an estimated $5,122,000 in its expansion, bringing its cume to $5,515,000 and landing at #6 in the top 10. The film has been garnering decent response and word of mouth to give it a possible boost during the holiday season. Plus, the pic’s Golden Globe, SAG Awards nods and the Theron-Kidman-Robbie trifecta are certainly box office draws. If anything, people will fill seats to marvel at Theron’s freakishly uncanny Megyn Kelly resemblance.
On a weekend of noteworthy expansions, there were a couple of new titles on the scene including Amazon Studios’ Invisible Life. As Brazil’s official Oscar entry, it opened very low in two theaters this weekend earning an estimated gross of $8,364. Other new films for the weekend included the Hindi-language action comedy Dabangg 3 directed by Prabhu Deva, which ran in 294 theaters and grossed an estimated $1,115,000, with decent runs in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle and Nashville. It was a similar story for Maruthi Dasari’s Prati Roju Pandage. The Telugu-language comedy-drama opened in 80 theaters to the tune of $212,000 with decent runs in Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle.
In its second weekend, A Hidden Life continues to struggle. The Terrence Malick drama is based on the real-life story of Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl), an Austrian farmer-turned-World War II conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis. It was a Palme d’Or nominee at Cannes earlier this year, earned a spot on National Board of Review’s top 10 indie movie list, was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award and is sitting at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it still isn’t finding momentum at the box office. The film expanded from five theaters in New York and Los Angeles to 106 theaters and earned an approximate weekend gross of $250,000. Bad news: it’s pretty soft for an expansion and as it heads into the holidays. Good news: it is expectedly playing well with cinephiles and its top two grossing theaters were New York’s Cinema 1,2 & 3 and the Angelika Film Center in Downtown Manhattan. The film will add more theaters on December 25 with a plan to open in more markets on January 3 and 10.
Elsewhere, Todd Haynes’ legal thriller Dark Waters netted an estimated $312,000 in its fifth week to put it across the $10 million mark. Bong Joon Ho’s dark comedy Parasite — with its strong awards season recognition — continues to thrive for Neon in its eleventh week earning an additional $460,000, bringing its cume to an impressive $21,205,413. In its seventh week out, Shia LaBeouf’s acclaimed cathartic cinematic exercise of father issues Honey Boy continues to roll along at Amazon Studios, earning $59,243 to bring its box office till to $2,849,567.
NEW RELEASES
Dabangg 3 (Yash Raj Films) – Week 1 [294 Theaters] Weekend/Cume $1,115,000, Average $3,793
Invisible Life (Amazon Studios) – Week 1 [2 Theaters] Weekend/Cume $8,364, Average $4,182
Prati Roju Pandage (Sarigama Cinemas) – Week 1 [58 Theaters] Weekend/Cume $212,000, Average $3,662
RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND
Bombshell (Lionsgate) – Week 2 [1,480 Theaters] Weekend $5,122,000, Average $3,460, Cume $5,515,000
A Hidden Life (Fox Searchlight) – Week 2 [106 Theaters] Weekend $250,000, Average $2,350, Cume $326,000
Uncut Gems (A24) – Week 2 [5 Screens] Weekend $232,479, Average $46,496, Cume $1,010,343
HOLDOVERS/THIRD+ WEEKEND
Dark Waters (Focus Features) – Week 5 [451 Theaters] Weekend $312,000 Average $692, Cume $10,067,000
Honey Boy (Amazon Studios) – Week 7 [85 Theaters] Weekend $59,243, Average $697, Cume $2,849,567
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight) – Week 10 [230 Theaters] Weekend $173,000, Average $753, Cume $20,339,000
Pain and Glory (Sony Pictures Classics) – Week 12 [44 Screens] Weekend $40,425, Average $919, Cume $3,766,135
Parasite (Neon) – Week 11 [227 Screens] Weekend $460,000, Average $2,026, Cume $21,205,413