IndieWire each week exclusively shares a box office chart via Rentrak looking at the top 10 releases in specialized release, presented in full with added commentary.
It really doesn’t get closer than this.
In their second weekends in theaters, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” from MUBI and “Tony” from A24 are separated by just a few hundred dollars in their overall box office hauls. Both films have earned $1.268 million after opening on just a few screens in New York and LA in their first weekends, and both are now expanding further still in limited release.
Jane Schoenbrun’s “Camp Miasma” edged “Tony” this past weekend, earning $890K from 54 locations for a per-screen-average of $16,495, while Matt Johnson’s Anthony Bourdain biopic earned $741K from just 37 locations for a PSA of $20,047. “Tony” had the bigger opening in Week 1 and added fewer theaters, while “Camp Miasma” added a few more but had a 257 percent jump from its opening on just 5 screens.
Based on our chart’s criteria of just 500 screens, “Camp Miasma” and “Tony” shake out to be No. 1 and 2 on the specialized chart from Rentrak, but a few others that opened just beyond that would have been right in the mix.
Black Bear’s “The Rivals of Amziah King,” whose disappointing haul of $1.02M from 632 screens we recently wrote about, would have otherwise placed No. 1 on this chart. Neon’s “The Wrong Girls,” which was just over our limit at 520 screens, would have placed No. 3 with $433K in its opening for a weak PSA of just $834. “The Invite” also would’ve cracked the Top 10 with just 271 screens this week, but it expanded wide a while ago and took itself out of specialized contention. The same is true of “Hadestown,” which is hanging around on just 91 screens in its fourth weekend and has now surpassed $20 million domestic.
Among other new releases this weekend that did crack the Top 10 was Watermelon Pictures’ “American Doctor,” about three American doctors of different religious backgrounds all working together in Gaza. The film played on just one screen at the Angelika in NYC and made $41,104, which the distributor said gives it a PSA that places seventh all-time for documentaries.
Top 10 Specialized Releases 8/14-8/16 (all figures are domestic results courtesy of Rentrak)
- “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” – $890,715
- Distributor: Mubi
- Week: 2
- Avg/Location: $16,495
- Cumulative: $1.268M
- “Tony” – $741,751
- Distributor: A24
- Week: 2
- Avg/Location: $20,047
- Cumulative: $1.268M
- “The Samurai and the Prisoner” – $121,447
- Distributor: Janus Films
- Week: 3
- Avg/Location: $1,557
- Cumulative: $515,029
- “Cookie Queens” – $45,501
- Distributor: Roadside Attractions
- Week: 2
- Avg/Location: $382
- Cumulative: $558,649
- “Mary Oliver: Saved By the Beauty of the World” – $43,401
- Distributor: Kino Lorber
- Week: 7
- Avg/Location: $1,113
- Cumulative: $619,289
- “American Doctor” – $41,104
- Distributor: Watermelon Pictures
- Week: 1
- Avg/Location: $41,104
- Cumulative: $41,104
- “Late Fame” – $32,847
- Distributor: Magnolia
- Week: 2
- Avg/Location: $8,212
- Cumulative: $97,277
- “Wild Inside” – $29,967
- Distributor: HBO Documentary Films
- Week: 3
- Avg/Location: $870
- Cumulative: $155,496
- “Ueck” – $12,687
- Distributor: September Club
- Week: 4
- Avg/Location: $634
- Cumulative: $247,087
- “Namaslay” – $10,245
- Distributor: Junghal Films
- Week: 2
- Avg/Location: $445
- Cumulative: $25,370
IndieWire’s criteria for inclusion on the Specialized Chart looks at independent and mini-major distributors with films that at their widest release at any point are below 500 screens, excluding event cinema, re-releases, and major Bollywood or Chinese North American releases.