Specialty Box Office: Braff's 'Wish I Was Here' Has OK Debut; 'Boyhood' Soars With Over $1 Million From Just 34 Theaters

Audiences continued to flock to Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” this weekend as the film took in over $1 million from just 34 theaters. That trumped any news from debuting films in the specialty market, as Zach Braff’s “Wish I Was Here” managed a decent but unspectacular debut and Mike Cahill’s “I Origins” stumbled. Full report below:

The Debuts:

Debut Winner of the Weekend (Sort of): “Wish I Was Here,” questionably. “A Five Star Life” and “Mood Indigo” had arguably more impressive numbers (see below), but Zach Braff’s second feature film gets this status because it was — at least out of the gate — by no means the disaster some suspected it might be.

Braff clearly has his share of fans. Enough so that he was able to

get them to offer $3.1 million on Kickstarter to help him fund his

follow up to his hit 2004 directorial debut “Garden State.” But given

the backlash of that Kickstarter campaign and the generally negative

reviews that eventually met “Here” when it debuted at Sundance, it was clear that the film would be met with something of an uphill battle in theaters. And it still could. But the Focus Features release had a decent first weekend in 68 theaters, grossing $495,000 for a $7,279 average. Not the kind of numbers that suggest it could match the $26.7 million grossed by “Garden State,” but not the kind Braff or Focus should be upset over either. Especially given the competition from “Boyhood”‘s first weekend of expansion (see the next page).

The real test, however, is next weekend. Focus is sending “Here” to 110 markets and roughly 600 theaters. That’s going to be a serious uphill battle, but for now — the film is neither a hit or a disappointment.

This Weekend’s Debuts: (ranked in order of per-theater-average)

1. A Five Star Life (Music Box)

Week: 1

Weekend Gross: $16,500

Theaters: 1

Per-Theater-Average: $16,500

Total Gross: $16,500

Criticwire Average: N/A

2. Mood Indigo (Drafthouse Films)

Week: 1

Weekend Gross: $25,121

Theaters: 2

Per-Theater-Average: $12,561

Total Gross: $25,121

Criticwire Average: B

3. Wish I Was Here (Focus

Week: 1

Weekend Gross: $495,000

Theaters: 68

Per-Theater-Average: $7,279

Total Gross: $495,000

Criticwire Average: C+

4. Alive Inside (Bond/360)

Week: 1

Weekend Gross: $7,150

Theaters: 1

Per-Theater-Average: $7,150

Total Gross: $7,150

Criticwire Average: B

5. I Origins (Fox Searchlight)

Week: 1

Weekend Gross: $28,719

Theaters: 4

Per-Theater-Average: $7,180

Total Gross: $28,719

Criticwire Average: B

Head on over to the next page for holdover grosses, including “Boyhood,” “America,” “Begin Again” and “Snowpiercer”…

The Holdovers:

Holdover Winner of the Weekend:

“Boyhood.” Expanding from 5 to 34 theaters, the success story of Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” continued to unfold as it soared 209% in grosses, taking in $1,197,820 for a stellar per-theater-average of $35,230. That was on par with the weekend grosses of studio films like “Jersey Boys,” “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Think Like a Man Too” — except those films were playing in 600+ more theaters.

“‘Boyhood’ continues to do stellar business in its initial expansion,” said Mark Boxer, SVP Sales and Distribution at IFC Films. “The film is at 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and the word of mouth is through the roof as reflected by eye-popping exit polls this weekend and minimal drop at last weekend’s opening theaters. The film played strongly across all demographics, with top scores from teens to those in their 60’s and beyond. This is the real deal, a film that has become a total must-see for moviegoing audiences.”



“Boyhood” was a shot over 12 years, following the

evolution of a family (played by Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette,

Ethan Hawke and Lorelei Linklater) over that period. It represents an

investment from IFC Films, a division of AMC Networks, over that same

period. The company had recently financed Linklater’s “Waking Life” and

“Tape” when Linklater and producer John Sloss approached IFC Films head Jonathan Sehring about

financing the “12 year project.” He in turn went to his boss, Josh

Sapan, head of AMC Networks, who he had worked for almost 30 years, who

also was into the idea.



“Back in 2002, we thought Rick’s idea

was an extraordinary notion and we believed him to be a great

filmmaker,” said Sehring and Sapan last week. “Putting our creative and

commercial fates in the hands of people who are brilliant has proven to

be a terrific strategy for the company and we couldn’t’ be happier to

have supported Rick’s creative vision. The result is a film for the

ages and we can’t wait to bring ‘Boyhood’ to the rest of the country in

the weeks to come.”

“Boyhood” will expand to the top 25 markets this weekend as they continue to widen the picture over the coming weeks. Its total stands at $1,812,987 after 10 days of release.

Notable Milestones:

“Chef”

crossed the $25 million mark — only the second specialty release of

2014 to do so after “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” The Jon Favreau comedy has been holding on extremely strong over its run, dropping just 10% this weekend — its 11th — despite losing screens.

crossed the $25 million mark — only the second specialty release of 2014 to do so after “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” The Jon Favreau comedy has been holding on extremely strong over its run, dropping just 10% this weekend — its 11th — despite losing screens. “America” soared past $10 million in its third weekend — it’s already the highest grossing documentary of 2014, and only the fourth 2014 indie overall to cross the $10 million mark.

“Begin Again” hit $9 million in weekend #4, making it the 5th highest grossing indie of 2014.

“Snowpiercer” crossed the $3 million mark, impressively while also being a huge hit on iTunes (read more about its VOD story here).

The Holdover Top 10: (ranked in order of per-theater-average)

1. Boyhood (IFC Films)

Week: 1

Weekend Gross: $1,197,820

Theaters: 34 (up from 5)

Per-Theater-Average: $35,230

Total Gross: $1,848,050

Criticwire Average: A

2. Land Ho (Sony Pictures Classics)

Week: 2

Weekend Gross: $36,075

Theaters: 7 (up from 4)

Per-Theater-Average: $5,154

Total Gross: $85,890

Criticwire Average: B

3. The Breakup Guru (China Lion)

Week: 4

Weekend Gross: $8,000

Theaters: 3 (down from 6)

Per-Theater-Average: $2,666

Total Gross: $201,641

Criticwire Average: N/A

4. A Summer’s Tale (Big Wolrd)

Week: 5

Weekend Gross: $21,196

Theaters: 9 (up from 6)

Per-Theater-Average: $2,355

Total Gross: $106,521

Criticwire Average: N/A

5. Yves Saint Laurent (The Weinstein Company)

Week: 4

Weekend Gross: $24,361

Theaters: 11 (down from 14)

Per-Theater-Average: $2,215

Total Gross: $209,107

Criticwire Average: C+

6. Snowpiercer (RADiUS-TWC)

Week: 4

Weekend Gross: $456,484

Theaters: 211 (down from 356)

Per-Theater-Average: $2,163

Total Gross: $3,457,907

Criticwire Average: A-

7. Begin Again (The Weinstein Company)

Week: 4

Weekend Gross: $2,762,000

Theaters: 1,302 (up from 939)

Per-Theater-Average: $2,121

Total Gross: $9,476,666

Criticwire Average: B



8. Chef (Open Road Films)

Week: 11

Weekend Gross: $1,129,332

Theaters: 552 (down from 701)

Per-Theater-Average: $2,046

Total Gross: $25,941,017

Criticwire Average: B

9. America (Lionsgate)

Week: 4

Weekend Gross: $1,725,000

Theaters: 1,030 (down from 1,105)

Per-Theater-Average: $1,675

Total Gross: $11,468,696

Criticwire Average: C-

10. Code Black (Long Shot)

Week: 5

Weekend Gross: $11592

Theaters: 7 (up from 6)

Per-Theater-Average: $1,656

Total Gross: $98,587

Criticwire Average: A-

11. Ida (Music Box)

Week: 12

Weekend Gross: $118,000

Theaters: 75 (down from 85)

Per-Theater-Average: $1,573

Total Gross: $3,334,064

Criticwire Average: A

12. Obvious Child (A24)

Week: 6

Weekend Gross: $139,888

Theaters: 96 (down from 134)

Per-Theater-Average: $1,457

Total Gross: $2,602,777

Criticwire Average: B+



Peter Knegt is a contributing editor at Indiewire and our box office columnist. Follow him on Twitter.

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