‘Darkest Hour’ Crosses $45M; ‘Lady Bird’ Tops $41M; Met Opera Screen’s ‘Tosca’ Hits $2M: Specialty Box Office

UPDATED at 11:25AM PT. Oscar nominees dominated the specialty box office over the weekend, with Darkest Hour and Lady Bird hitting new milestones, and The Shape of Water showing the biggest nomination bump.

With 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water showed the biggest Oscar boost on the specialty scene. Fox Searchlight added 1,001 runs for the title starring Sally Hawkins, taking in $5.7M from a wide 1,854 theaters, averaging $3,074 (+17%). In nine weeks of release, the feature has cumed $37.67M.

Focus Features’ Darkest Hour held in 1,300-plus theaters in its 10th weekend, after receiving six nominations. Starring Gary Oldman as Sir Winston Churchill, the title is still the highest-grossing 2017 specialty release to date at $45.1M. Darkest Hour grossed $2.88M, averaging $2,164, off just 6% from the prior weekend.

Also with six nominations, Focus’ Phantom Thread jumped its location count by 125 vs. last weekend, bringing its total to more than one thousand. Starring Best Actor nominee Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread grossed $2.89M, averaging $2,831, with its cume entering eight figures at $10.62M.

With three nominations, Neon/20West’s I, Tonya jumped from 799 theaters to 960 this weekend with solid results. I, Tonya grossed $2.96M, averaging $3,093, compared with $3.02M last weekend and a $3,784 average. Its cume stands at $18.84M.

Sony Classics’ Call Me By Your Name got four nominations on Tuesday. The film maintained its 815 location count, however. Starring nominee Timothée Chalamet, the feature grossed $1.34M, averaging $1,651, down just 11% from its prior-weekend average of $1,847. The film reached the eight-figure plateau this past week, with a cume of $11.35M.

Following its Best Drama win at the Golden Globes, Searchlight’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri received seven nominations and with that, an increase of more than 500 theaters in its 12th weekend of release. Three Billboards grossed $3.6M in 1,457 locations, averaging $2,471, which is actually an uptick from last weekend’s average of $2,096. The film has cumed a bit more than $37M.

Lady Bird received nominations in five categories, and distributor A24 nearly doubled its location count in its 13th weekend in theaters. Directed by nominee Greta Gerwig, the feature grossed over $1.92M in 1,172 theaters, averaging $1,642, down 16%, but pushing it past the $40M level to a new cume of $41.64M.

Newcomers were light again this weekend, though the Metropolitan Opera did an event screening of Puccini’s Tosca in 900 theaters, grossing $2M. Viva opened India’s Padmaavat in 326 locations, grossing over $4M, which is an opening weekend record for a Bollywood title. Parade Deck Films bowed Desolation in two locations for $10,640. GKIDS’ animated feature Mary and the Witch’s Flower shed runs in its second weekend, grossing $137K, while Sundance Selects added a location for Italian feature A Ciambra in its second frame, grossing $7,531. Despite Martin Scorsese being attached as the film’s presenter, the neo-realist film did not come land a nomination in the Best Foreign Language race. 

NEW RELEASES

Desolation (Parade Deck Films) NEW [2 Theaters] Weekend $10,640, Average $5,320

The Met: Live in HD, Puccini’s Tosca (Met Opera) NEW [900 Theaters] Weekend $2,000,000, Average $2,222

RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND

A Ciambra (Sundance Selects) Week 2 [2 Theaters] Weekend $7,531, Average $3,766, Cume $17,405

Forever My Girl (Roadside Attractions)  Week 2 [1,424 Theaters] Weekend $3,706,991, Average $1,424, Cume $9,266,150

Mary And the Witch’s Flower (GKIDS) Week 2 [77 Theaters] Weekend $137,087, Average $1,780, Cume $1,785,784

HOLDOVERS / THIRD+ WEEKENDS

Condorito: La Pelicula (Lionsgate/Pantelion) Week 3 [36 Theaters] Weekend $17,500, Average $486, Cume $437,122

The Insult (Cohen Media Group) Week 3 [10 Theaters] Weekend $60,872, Average $6,087, Cume $143,712

Vazante (Music Box Films) Week 3 [4 Theaters] Weekend $3,888, Average $972, Cume $10,799

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 5 [19 Theaters] Weekend $35,918, Average $1,890, Cume $247,751

Happy End (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 6 [14 Theaters] Weekend $21,792, Average $1,557, Cume $198,481

Hostiles (Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures) Week 6 [2,816 Theaters] Weekend $10,205,000, Average $3,624, Cume $12,052,797

Phantom Thread (Focus Features) Week 6 [1,021 Theaters] Weekend $2,890,000, Average $2,831, Cume $10,622,000

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (GKIDS) Week 7 [2 Theaters] Weekend $3,017, Average $1,508, Cume $34,485

I, Tonya (Neon/30West) Week 8 [960 Theaters] Weekend $2,969,280, Average $3,093, Cume $18,844,022

The Disaster Artist (A24) Week 9 [84 Theaters] Weekend $104,108, Average $1,239, Cume $20,915,962

The Shape of Water (Fox Searchlight) Week 9 [1,854 Theaters] Weekend $5,700,000, Average $3,074, Cume $37,678,745

Call Me By Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 10 [815 Theaters] Weekend $1,345,422, Average $1,651, Cume $11,355,962

Darkest Hour (Focus Features) Week 10 [1,333 Theaters] Weekend $2,885,000, Average $2,164, Cume $45,197,000

The Breadwinner (GKIDS) Week 11 [4 Theaters] Weekend $4,247, Average $1,062, Cume $255,920

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Fox Searchlight) Week 12 [1,457 Theaters] Weekend $3,600,000, Average $2,471, Cume $37,010,951

My Friend Dahmer (FilmRise) Week 13 [1 Theater] Weekend $1,500, Cume $1,338,071

Lady Bird (A24) Week 13 [1,172 Theaters] Weekend $1,924,788, Average $1,642, Cume $41,647,880

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (The Orchard) Week 15 [4 Theaters] Weekend $1,432, Average $358, Cume $98,825

Jane (Abramorama) Week 15 [9 Theaters] Weekend $12,221, Average $1,358, Cume $1,644,129

Faces Places (Cohen Media Group) Week 17 [10 Theaters] Weekend $14,068, Average $1,406, Cume $722,829

The Florida Project (A24) Week 17 [33 Theaters] Weekend $55,289, Average $1,675, Cume $5,656,330