The “Dark Knight” frenzy seemed to cast a dark shadow over the specialty market during the weekend, with fewer than the usual number of notable expansions among limited releases.
Sony Pictures Classics’ Ben Kingsley starrer “The Wackness” added three playdates for a total of 34 and grossed $150,788. That represented a sturdy $4,435 per engagement and brought its cume to $742,897.
“With a picture like ‘The Wackness,’ our trajectory would normally have been to open in several more cities this weekend,” SPC president Michael Barker said. “But we thought we’d hold off a week to do that and stay out of the way of the ‘Dark Knight’ and ‘Mamma Mia!’ onslaught.”
“Dark Knight” mania was just to big too ignore, and support for the latter film likely overlapped with prospective patrons of “Wackness,” Barker said. “We were happy that we held our own,” the SPC exec added.
Elsewhere, ThinkFilm’s documentary “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” added three theaters for a total of four in grossing $9,600, or a thin $2,600 per venue, as its cume moved to $17,152.
The distributor’s Antarctica docu “Encounters at the End of the World” added six locations for a total of 38 in grossing $61,750, or just $1,625 per site. Its cume reached $475,350.
