Latest in Ex Machina

EXCLUSIVE: In this age of heavy hype and tracking, it’s hard to deliver a sleeper crossover hit. A24 is slowly building Alex Garland’s directing debut Ex Machina into exactly that, and will broaden the film to 2000 screens Friday as the film heads into its sixth weekend. The film’s growth has been deliberately slow…

EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich’s DNA is enjoying a banner moment with two hit films either side of the Atlantic — Ex Machina domestically and Far From The Madding Crowd in the UK both exceeding expectations — and a pivot toward TV production that could see the London-based company become a small-screen…

UPDATE, Monday 4:15PM after 9:03 AM: With Top 20 Chart. Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron ended up with a better than anticipated $191.3M domestically, pushing its worldwide cume to an impressive $631.1M,  according to the studio. That’s $3.6M better than had been anticipated yesterday. The Avengers franchise…

Amid the bang boom of Furious 7 dominating the box office again in its fourth frame with a $320.5M domestic gross, a cult film was percolating on the charts: A24’s sci-fi drama Ex Machina. The film posted the distrib’s best weekend ever with $5.44M at 1,255 playdates, beating the wide weekend expansion of its 2013…

UPDATE, SUNDAY 10 A.M.: You would think a massive hurricane was about to sweep over America. But no, it’s just Disney Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which will be kicking off this Thursday. While the final frame of April has proven its mettle to launch summer early (e.g., Fast Five‘s 2011 bow of $86.2M), most of…

The box office will take a little breather this weekend with some new counterprogramming offerings and expansions before Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron arrives to blow the hinges off the box office annals next Thursday. Universal’s Furious 7 is hands down the front-runner for the fourth weekend in a row and…

Québécois romantic drama Félix And Meira had this weekend’s biggest debut among specialty films on a per-screen average , but it was A24’s sci-fi thriller Ex Machina that continued to dazzle in its second weekend, easily topping all titles. Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight’s True Story, starring James Franco and Jonah Hill…

Universal’s seven-quel Furious 7 was off 2% in its weekend actual from its Sunday estimate with a second frame of $59.6M. Furious 7 still outstripped its predecessor’s domestic B.O. of $238.7M in 10 days to becoming the highest grossing title in the franchise with $251.5M, and its weekend haul is still the third…

This doesn’t happen often: Four of the weekend box office’s top 10 are Specialty releases, while a debuting fifth had the year’s best per-theater average. Among the top 10, TWC’s Woman In Gold, RADiUS’ It Follows, Bleecker Street’s Danny Collins and A24’s While We’re Young took the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th spots…

Kristen Stewart became the first American woman to win at France’s Cesar Awards when she took Best Supporting Actress for her…

WME has signed Alex Garland. After a career that began when he adapted for director Danny Boyle his novel The Beach and then scripted 28 Days Later and Sunshine for the same helmer, he makes his feature directing debut on his script Ex Machina. WME just screened the film, which A24 will release April 10 and which…

2ND UPDATE, TUESDAY 4 AM PT: Actuals are in for the international weekend with no major discrepancies save for a big drop on Taken 3. After Sunday’s report of a $57.2M total in non-Fox markets, the confirmed total came in at $39.8M. The difference was down to an incorrect cume provided to Fox by EuropaCorp for those…