‘The Whale’ Swims To $11+ Million Cume, ‘Saint Omer’ Sees Solid NY/LA Open As Awards Race Picks Up – Specialty Box Office
16.01.2023 - 01:15
/ deadline.com
A24’s The Whale crossed the $11-million mark in week six as it jumped to 1,500 screens from 835 as the Brendan Fraser-starrer and other contenders continue to tweak theatrical runs through awards season.
The film, which received a PGA nomination for Best Motion Picture this week along with SAG noms for Fraser and co-star Hong Chau, grossed $1.45 million for the three days weekend and $1.8 million for the four days, including Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday. Former action star Fraser, who plays a morbidly obese, reclusive English teacher, is no. 8 at the domestic box office with a cume of $11.1 million.
Box office newbie, Super’s Saint Omer, opened on 245 screens with a $62.5k three-day weekend and $255 per screen average ($74.7k and $305, respectively, for the four days). At its three core NY/LA locations, the Alice Diop film, France’s shortlisted Oscar submission for Best International Feature, grossed $21k, or a solid specialty PSA of $7,000. The Neon label planned the wide jump to boost the pic’s profile and national exposure with Oscar voters. But this is the film’s widest point. Super will, if anything, trim screens week to week in a kind of reverse platform during the awards corridor when the specialized audience usually comes out in force.
IFC Midnight/Shudder’s microbudget horror Skinamarink grossed $746k for the three days and $798k for the four-day weekend on 692 screens for a PSA of, respectively, $1.1k and $1.15k.
That was also a wide break for the debut feature from Kyle Edward Ball that went viral after premiering at Fantasia-fest. “Once we saw the incredible response online, we knew we had to bring this film to as many theaters as possible nationwide,” said IFC Films chief Arianna Bocco. “Kyle has made