Indie Box Office: Sofia Coppola’s ‘Bling Ring’ Swipes $42K Per-Screen

And Weinstein's doc '20 Feet From Stardom' opens strong in first, limited release

Writer-director Sofia Coppola‘s “The Bling Ring” made off with a strong $210,001 from just five locations in its debut this weekend for distributor A24.

That’s a strong $42,000 per-theater average for the crime comedy, which stars Emma Watson, as well as Taissa Farmiga, Leslie Mann and Kirsten Dunst.

Also read: What the Critics Think of Sofia Coppola's 'Bling Ring'

It’s based on the Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch — aka the Bling Ring — a group of teenagers who pulled off some brazen heists of celebrity homes, including those of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Megan Fox and Orlando Bloom, taking up to $3 million worth of goods.

“We are thrilled with the results,” said A24’s Nicolette Aizenberg. “Sofia Coppola's latest and greatest has certainly entered the zeitgeist and we look forward to capitalizing on this great success as we expand nationwide next weekend.”

It is Coppola’s best opening in a decade. Her “Lost in Translation” took in $40,221 from 23 locations in 2003. And it’s way better than her last film, “Somewhere,” which averaged $17,012 on seven theaters in 2010.

Also opening strongly this weekend was “20 Feet From Stardom," a documentary about the best backup singers of the past 50 years, from the Weinstein Company’s Radius label. It took in $52,211 from three screens for a $17,404 average. Radius plans to roll it out in the top 50 markets over the next few weeks.

Also read: 'Man of Steel' Soars to Record-Breaking $125M

Roadside Attractions’ “Much Ado About Nothing” took in $152,580 from 23 theaters after opening in five last week. That’s a solid $7,069 per-screen take for Joss Whedon‘s contemporary take on Shakespeare’s classic.

Not faring as well in a more aggressive expansion was Sony Classics R-rated drama “Before Midnight,” which went from 52 to 897 theaters, and took in $1.5 million, a roughly $1,701 per-screen average.

SPC also expanded “Fill the Void,” from 13 to 18 theaters, and it brought in $389,630. That’s a $4,486 average for the Israeli drama written and directed by Rama Burshtein.

Zeitgeist Films’ “Hannah Arendt” brought in $26,509 from six theaters in its third week, an average of $4,418 per location.

Fox Searchlight moved “The East” into 115 theaters for its third week, up from 41, and saw director Zal Batmanglij’s drama take in $285,000, a $2,478 per-screen average. Brit Marling, Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard star. It has taken in $706,305 so far.

And CBS Films’ “The Kings of Summer” averaged $2,254 after moving up from 44 to 63 theaters and taking in $142,000. That ups its overall total to $533,944.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts' big-screen debut focuses on three teenage friends (Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso and Moises Arias) who decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land. Chris Galletta wrote the screenplay. Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally and Alison Brie co-star.

 

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