Independent Box Office: ‘Pulling Strings’ Latest Spanish-Language Comedy to Connect

Pantelion’s bilingual family film takes $2.5M and gets an “A+” CinemaScore — just like “Instructions Not Included”

The bilingual comedy “Pulling Strings” is the latest movie to target Hispanic audiences in the U.S. and connect at the box office.

The romantic comedy about a Mexican mariachi and an American embassy employee, from Lionsgate’s Pantelion Entertainment, was on 387 screens and took in $2.5 million. That’s a $6,460 per-theater average, better than any film wide release except for “Gravity.”

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It’s also the second-largest opening ever for Pantelion, behind “Instructions Not Included,” which in August opened to $7.8 million and has gone on to become the highest-grossing Spanish-languag film ever in the U.S. with $41 million.

Like “Instructions,” opening weekend audiences gave “Pulling Strings” a rare “A+” CinemaScore.

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Jaime Camil, Laura Ramsay and Omar Chaparro star in the PG-rated film, directed by Pitipol Ybarra. Tom Arnold and Stockard Channing co-star.

Pantelion is a partnership between Lionsgate and Videocine, an affiliate of Grupo Televisa.

Elsewhere, Exclusive Media’s “Parkland,” which focuses on the events at the Dallas hospital where John F. Kennedy was brought after being shot, opened to a soft $334,100 from 257 theaters. That’s a weak $1,300 per-screen average.

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“A Touch of Sin,” from Chinese writer-director Zhangke-Jia, opened to $24,000 from two New York theaters for Shanghai Film Group. It debuted earlier in the week at the New York Film Festival.

“Linsanity,” the documentary about surprise NBA star Jeremy Lin, averaged $11,444 after taking in $103,000 from nine theaters for Ketchum Entertainment.

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