Richard Linklater’s critical and box office darling Boyhood prospered as it all but expanded nationwide over the weekend, grossing an estimated $2.2 million from 771 locations to land on the top 10 chart for the first time.
The unique indie drama, produced by IFC Films and Linklater, has already earned $13.8 million, making it the No. 5 platform release of the year after The Grand Budapest Hotel ($59.1 million), Jon Favreau‘s Chef ($29.3 million), Begin Again ($14.5 million) and conservative documentary America ($14.4 million).
“This weekend’s gross just further demonstrates Boyhood‘s strong word of mouth and appeal across all demographics,” said IFC president Jon Sehring.
If final weekend numbers show Boyhood making less than $2.2 million, the movie could fall outside the top 10, since it was in a close race with consumer titles Hercules and Get On Up.
Woody Allen‘s Magic in the Moonlight and Daniel Radcliffe romantic comedy What If also expanded nationwide, albeit to mixed results.
Magic in the Moonlight, expanding into a total of 965 theaters in its fourth weekend, placed No. 14 with $1.9 million for a North American total of $4.7 million for the Sony Pictures Classics title. The movie continues to trail Allen’s Blue Jasmine, To Rome With Love and Midnight in Paris.
CBS Films’ What If, starring Radcliffe opposite Zoe Kazan, came in No. 17 as it upped its location count to 782 theaters in its second weekend, grossing $829,000 for a domestic total of $1 million.
New specialty offerings included Michael Winterbottom‘s sequel The Trip to Italy, which nabbed one of the best location averages of the summer for IFC Films, earning $71,577 overall from three screens in New York and Los Angeles for a theater average of $23,859.
Among holdovers, Roadside Attractions’ A Most Wanted Man, starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman opposite Rachel McAdams, placed No. 15 with $1.2 million from 650 locations for a total gross of $12.6 million (the movie was playing in north of 800 theaters the weekend before).
Obvious Child crossed the $3 million mark for distributor A24 Films, earning $20,921 from 21 theaters in its 11th weekend. A24’s new entry Life After Beth opened to $18,000 from two theaters for a muted location average of $9,000. The zombie comedy, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, is directed by Jeff Baena and stars Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan.
Twitter: @PamelaDayM
