The Film Experience

Since we haven't done a massive box office chart of everything in wide release (800+ screens) and the corresponding specialty titles in a month or so, let's do that shall we? What did you see on this scattershot weekend that had literally 9 new releases premiering and nothing truly dominant? After the jump the full chart and some context about The Farewell's major financial success (and Oscar dreams)...

Weekend Box Office August 9th-11th (Actuals) 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / LIMITED

1 Hobbs & Shaw $25.2 (cum. $108.3) REVIEW ★	1 🔺 The Farewell $2 on 704 screens (cum. $10.2) PERSONAL TAKE, INTERVIEW ★


2 🔺 Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark $20.9 new	2 🔺 Maiden $258k on 173 screens (cum. $1.9) REVIEW ★


3 The Lion King $20.2 (cum. $473.3) REVIEW	3 🔺 The Peanut Butter Falcon $204k on 17 screens new REVIEW ★


4 🔺 Dora and the City of Gold $17.4 new REVIEW	4 🔺 Luce $134k on 24 screens (cum. $307k) ★


5 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood $11.6 (cum. $100.3) REVIEW, PODCAST ★	5 🔺The Bravest $110k on 150 screens new


6 🔺 The Art of Racing in the Rain $8.1 new	6 🔺 Them That Follow $85k on 195 screens (cum. $101k)


7 🔺 The Kitchen $5.5 new	7 🔺 David Crosby Remember My Name [DOC] $82k on 47 screens (cum. $295k)


8 Spider-Man Far From Home $5.2 (cum. $370.9) TOM HOLLAND, REVIEW	8 🔺 Exit $82k on 19 screens (cum. $134k)


9 🔺 Toy Story 4 $4.5 (cum. $419.7) PODCAST, REVIEW	9 🔺 The Nightingale $71k on 27 screens (cum. $119k)


10 🔺 Brian Banks $2.1 new	10 🔺 Tel Aviv on Fire $70k on 28 screens (cum. $138k) OPHIR NOMINEE


11 Yesterday $1.1 (cum. $70.4)	11 Echo in the Canyon [DOC] $68k on 60 screens (cum. $3.1)

numbers on that chart are pulled from boxofficemojo.

WIDE
Hobbs & Shaw and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood both past the key $100 million mark this weekend.. but the new titles mostly struggled to make a splash with the exception of an overperforming Scary Stories...

LIMITED
The weekend's best per screen averages went to the new indies The Peanut Butter Falcon and two movies on 5 screens or less (which aren't on the chart above) the American remake of After the Wedding (reviewed) with Julianne Moore, and the Oscar-hopeful documentary One Child Nation (reviewed) which is only on 2 screens but likely to catch on if festival buzz and reviews are any indication. But the story of specialty titles continues to be The Farewell which keeps expanding superbly. It took its first percentage hit this weekend (off only 8%, though) as expanded to arguably wide release (some people consider 600+ wide but we think 800+ is a more accurate description in this day and age since 600 was considered wide when we were kids and 3000 screens for one picture (now such a norm) was impossible to imagine. But The Farewell still has a solid per screen average and amazing word of mouth. At $10 million (and still growing) it's already the highest grossing foreign language film of the year (yes, it's an American movie but most of it is in Chinese).

It's looking very strong for a Best Picture nomination at year's end considering the ecstatic reviews are paired with these kind of numbers. Ten million is a lot of money for a specialty title and it's not even done earning yet. Consider that Moonlight only had $15 million in the bank before its Oscar nominations and The Hurt Locker won with a domestic gross of just $17 million. Other contemporary Best Picture nominees in the same monetary ballpark include Whiplash $11 million, Letters from Iwo Jima $13 million, Room $14 million and Call Me By Your Name $17 million. Films that gross under $10 million almost never wind up as Best Picture nominees, the exceptions are rare foreign language titles like Amour or Roma but The Farewell has already outgrossed both of those.