'The Favourite': Indie Box Office's Largest Screen Average in Two Years

After dominating last year’s Oscars with “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Fox Searchlight is right back at it with “The Favourite,” which has earned the largest per screen average in nearly two years.

Released on four screens in New York and Los Angeles, Yorgos Lanthimos’ dark, 18th century satire grossed an estimated $420,000 for a per screen average (PSA) of $105,500. Not only did it blow by the previous 2018 best average of $89,903 set by “Suspiria,” it also topped 2017’s best PSA, which was set by “Call Me by Your Name” with $103,233.

To find a higher average, you have to go back to “La La Land” in December 2016, when it earned a $176,221 PSA from its five-screen release.

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When ranked among all of Searchlight’s releases, “The Favourite” currently ranks third and, depending on Sunday’s numbers, could take the No. 2 spot from Best Picture winner “Birdman,” which started its 2014 run with a $106,000 per screen average. The top PSA for a Searchlight release belongs to “The Grand Budapest Hotel” with $202,000 in May 2014.

Written and directed by Lanthimos, “The Favourite” stars Olivia Colman in an Oscar-contending performance as a senile, gout-riddled Queen Anne. With Britain battling France in the War of the Spanish Succession, Anne clings to her close relationship with Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz), who uses her status as the Queen’s Favourite to achieve her political ends.

But Sarah’s relationship is put to the test when her cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone), arrives at court and rises quickly from a scullery maid to Sarah’s rival for the title of Favourite, leading the once innocent Abigail to do the unthinkable to keep her newfound power. Nicholas Hoult and Mark Gatiss also star in the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and has a 95 percent score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Also releasing this weekend is “Roma,” the acclaimed, Golden Lion-winning film from Alfonso Cuaron. Following a caretaker employed by a family in the richest neighborhood in Mexico City, “Roma” has received a limited theatrical release prior to its streaming release on Netflix on Dec. 14. But while several screenings at the Landmark in Los Angeles have been reported as sellouts, Netflix is not releasing box office returns for the weekend.

Another new release that did post numbers is “Shoplifters,” which hits the U.S. six months after winning the Palme D’Or at Cannes. Directed by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, the film follows a rag-tag family of shoplifters bound by circumstance rather than blood, challenging societal definitions of what it really means to be a family. Released on five screens by Magnolia Pictures, the film grossed $88,000 for a per screen average of $17,600.

Among holdovers, CBS Films’ “At Eternity’s Gate” expanded to 31 screens on Friday and earned an estimated $286,000 over the five-day holiday weekend, giving it a 10-day total of $398,549. Focus’ “Boy Erased” expanded to 672 screens and added $1.15 million for a total of $4.5 million after four weekends in theaters.

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Two other films that expanded wide this weekend, Sony/Stage 6’s “The Front Runner” and Aviron’s “A Private War,” fell flat with averages of less than $1,000. “The Front Runner” added $630,000 from 807 screens for an average of just $781 and a total of $1 million after three weekends. “A Private War” has a total of just $1.4 million after four weekends, making $135,000 from 226 screens for an average of $597.

On the milestone front, National Geographic’s “Free Solo” is close to becoming the fourth documentary this year to earn $10 million, adding $496,000 to push its total to $9.6 million after nine weekends. Fox Searchlight’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” has hit $6 million after six weekends with $593,000 from 426 screens, while Amazon’s “Beautiful Boy” has hit $7 million after making $350,000 from 254 screens in its seventh weekend.

2018's Biggest Box Office Bombs, From 'Gotti' to 'Solo' (Photos)

2018 was a great year for the box office, with plenty of record-breaking hits, but even a good year has its bombs. Here are ten of the most notable disappointments this year, including one from the biggest blockbuster franchise of all time.
"London Fields" -- Budget: $8 million, Global gross: $295,435

This critically panned noir film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 and has spent the past three years mired in lawsuits between the producers and lead star Amber Heard and director Matthew Cullen. After the Heard lawsuit was resolved, the film was released in October and suffered the second-worst wide release opening in box office history.
GVN Releasing
"Nutcracker and the Four Realms" -- Budget: $120 million, Global gross: $151.9 million so far

Two days after Halloween, Disney released this dark fantasy loosely based on the famous Russian ballet synonymous with Christmas. But critics weren't impressed by much beyond the film's dance sequences, and families saved their money to go see "The Grinch" and another Disney film, "Ralph Breaks the Internet," later in the month. With a $20 million opening weekend, "Nutcracker" suffered Disney's worst start since "The BFG" in 2016.
Disney
"Early Man" -- Budget: $50 million, Global gross: $54 million

How far has stop-motion animation fallen? Nick Park and Aardman Studios, creators of "Wallace & Gromit," earned praise from critics for this prehistoric comedy. But Lionsgate released it in the U.S. the same weekend as "Black Panther" and it was ignored in the U.S. with only $8.2 million grossed. The only country where the film made more than $10 million is Aardman's homeland, the U.K., with $15 million.
Lionsgate
"Annihilation" -- Budget: $40 million, Global gross: $43 million

It was an intelligent sci-fi tale with profound existential themes. It had an all-star female cast led by Natalie Portman. It was made by the director of "Ex Machina." And it failed to make its budget back with $32 million domestic and $10 million from China, with Paramount selling distribution rights for the rest of the world to Netflix. Maybe it will achieve "cult classic" status someday...
Paramount
"The Darkest Minds" -- Budget: $34 million, Global gross: $41 million

YA novel adaptations continue to fall flat in this post-"Hunger Games" world, as this tale of superpowered teens on the run got little marketing support from Fox and fell flat after being released in August.
"The Hurricane Heist" -- Budget: $35 million, Global gross: $31 million

Some films are based on concepts the general public just has no interest in thanks to recent events. Take this disaster thriller from "The Fast and the Furious" director Rob Cohen about two brothers who are caught up in a heist to steal millions from a federal facility during a Category 5 hurricane. With hurricanes destroying entire towns in real life on an annual basis now thanks to climate change, this probably wasn't many moviegoers' idea of a fun time at the movies.
Entertainment Studios
"Death Wish" -- Budget: $30 million, Global gross: $48 million

Charles Bronson's 1974 revenge film may have become a cult classic, but an Eli Roth-directed, Bruce Willis-starring remake is probably not what Americans are looking for at a time when deadly shootings are an almost daily occurrence. MGM moved the release date from November 2017 to March 2018 not long after last year's Las Vegas shooting... only for it to come out three weeks after the Parkland High School massacre.
MGM
"Gotti" -- Budget: $10 million, Global gross: $4.1 million.

The ill-fated mafia biopic started development in 2010 and weathered problems such as the replacement of lead Joe Pesci with John Travolta (sparkign a lawsuit), having Lionsgate drop the film two weeks before release, and getting picked up by the struggling MoviePass. The film was finally released in June to a unanimous critical drubbing. It failed to make back its budget, and MoviePass, a subscription service that pays for its users tickets, accounted for 40 percent of tickets sold.
Vertical Entertainment
“The Happytime Murders” — Budget: $40 million, Global gross: $27 million

Melissa McCarthy’s 2018 will be best remembered for her Oscar-contending performance in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”, which is good, because she also starred in this panned crime parody of the Muppets, which failed to make back its budget and was one of several films that struggled for distributor STX
"Solo: A Star Wars Story" -- Budget: $250 million, Global gross: $392 million

Disney broke box office records left and right this year, but it also had the most high-profile bomb of the year with this "Star Wars" anthology film that told the origins of Han Solo. Its release was preceded by a famously troubled production: original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired over creative differences with just under a month left in filming; they were replaced by Ron Howard; the budget inflated as roles were recast and much of the film was entirely re-shot. Upon release, "Solo" became the first "Star Wars" film ever to fail to gross $400 million worldwide. With "Episode IX" still a year away, Disney execs have said that they're taking another look at how they handle future films in this hallowed series.
Lucasfilm

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It’s been a good year for the box office, but not for these movies

2018 was a great year for the box office, with plenty of record-breaking hits, but even a good year has its bombs. Here are ten of the most notable disappointments this year, including one from the biggest blockbuster franchise of all time.

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2018's Biggest Box Office Bombs, From 'Gotti' to 'Solo' (Photos)

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