Woody Allen‘s Blue Jasmine continued to shine as it expanded into a total of 119 theaters in select top markets, shooting up the box office chart to No. 11.
The critically acclaimed film, from Sony Pictures Classics, grossed $2.5 million in its third weekend for a pleasing domestic total of $6.2 million. Blue Jasmine is running only a tad behind Allen’s megahit Midnight in Paris, even though that film was playing in 147 theaters by its third weekend.
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In Allen’s latest outing, Cate Blanchett plays a New York socialite whose life and marriage to a wealthy businessman (Alec Baldwin) fall apart, prompting her to go to San Francisco and take up residence in her sister’s small apartment.
A handful of films premiering earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival opened over the weekend, or continued to expand, including Lake Bell‘s well-reviewed In a World and Millennium Film’s biopic Lovelace, starring Amanda Seyfried as legendary porn star Linda Lovelace.
In a World opened to a solid $70,980 from three theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a location average of $23,660, the best of the weekend at the U.S. box office.
Bell wrote, directed and starred in the well-reviewed movie, about an apathetic voice-over star who is urged by her father to take her career more seriously. Earlier this year, In a World won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at the Sundance Festival, where it also was nominated for best feature.
Next weekend, Roadside Attractions will take Bell’s film into additional markets, pushing the film’s total theater count to 25.
Lovelace failed in its theatrical debut, earning $184,176 from 118 theaters for a miniscule location average of $1,561. However, Lovelace is among the top five movie downloads on iTunes, suggesting its day and date VOD strategy could pay off. Radius-TWC is distributing the film for Millennium.
Lovelace, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone, Adam Brody and Juno Temple.
Radius continued to see strong results for Sundance documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, which took in $194,117 from 112 theaters for a total $3.9 million.
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The Spectacular Now, another Sundance pic, grossed a solid $266,000 as it expanded into a total of 19 theaters for a location average of $14,000. The film, distributed by A24 Films, has grossed a total of $534,222.
Fox Searchlight’s dramedy The Way, Way Back slipped down the chart to No. 17, grossing $1.5 million from 780 theaters for a domestic total of $16.3 million in its sixth weekend, one of the top showings of the year for a specialty release.
The Way, Way Back did pull ahead of Ryan Coogler‘s Fruitvale Station, which fell to No. 18, grossing $1.4 million from 828 theaters. The film’s $13.5 million total is a financial win for the filmmakers and distributor The Weinstein Co.
