“Celeste and Jesse Forever,” starring Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg and Will McCormack, posted an impressive $28,003 per-screen average in its debut over the weekend.
The Sony Pictures Classics release, a Sundance acquisition, took in $112,011 from four screens in one of the strongest bows of the year for a specialty release.
The film, in which a couple tries to remain best friends after breaking up, co-stars Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts and Ari Gaynor
Also read: 'Celeste & Jesse Forever' Review: Fresh Comedy Devolves into Familiar Dram
Among holdovers, Focus Features’ “Moonrise Kingdom” became the year’s second specialty release to cross the $40 million mark.
In its 11th week of release, Wes Anderson’s tale of tween love took in $1.2 million from 687 screens. That raised its overall domestic gross to $40.7 million.
It’s the second art-house movie to hit that mark this year, following Fox Searchlight’s “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” which now stands at $45 million overall in North America, $130 million worldwide.
LD Entertainment's "Killer Joe," the William Friedkin crime thriller starring Matthew McConaughey, took in $163,053 from 14 screens in its second week, an $11,647 per-screen average for the NC-17 film.
Fox Searchlight's "Ruby Sparks" went from 13 to 64 theaters in its second week and brought in $400,115, a $6,252 average. The first film from Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris stars Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. Fox Searchlight plans to add around 200 theaters next week.
The same studio expanded Benh Zeitlin's Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner "Beasts of the Southern Wild" into 318 theaters this week and it paid off with $1.1 million, a $3,695 per-screen average that upped its domestic gross to $5.9 million.
"Safety Not Guaranteed," a time-travel comedy starring Mark Duplass from Film District, raised its overall gross to $3.4 million with $155,000 from 121 screens.
Among the week's other debuts, Fernando Meirelles' "360" from Magnolia Pictures took in $6,300 on two screens. Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Rachel Weisz, and Jude Law star.
And the Broken Lizard comedy "The Babymakers," starring Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn and Kevin Heffernan, bowed to $5,783 from 10 screens.