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DOX OFFICE | "Pray The Devil" Top Doc

[Peter Knegt] Balcony Releasing's "Pray The Devil Back To Hell" had the highest per-theater-average of all documentaries this past weekend. The film, directed by Gini Reticker, grossed a decent $8,227 from its one show at New York's Cinema Village cinema. Chronicling the story of courageous Liberian women, "Hell" expands to the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills and the Landmark E Street in Washington this Friday.

Other top docs included the second weekend of Zeitgeist's "Stranded: I've Come From A Plane That Crashed In The Mountains," which grossed $11,977 from 4 screens and brought its cume to $22,101 after 3 weekends, independent release "Call+Response," which grossed $12,246 on 5 screens, totalling $164,248 after 5 weekends, and Oscilloscope's "Dear Zachary," which took in $6,619 from 3 screens in its second weekend.



DOX OFFICE | "Matador," "Zachary" Open In NYC

[Peter Knegt] Two 2008 SXSW Film Festival favorites opened on a single New York screen this past weekend, with one finding moderately good numbers, and another not so much.

Stephen Higgins and Nina Gilden Seavey's "The Matador," released through City Lights Releasing, grossed a decent $6,695 on its one screen at the Angelika Film Center in New York. The doc - a story of a man truing to achieve his place in the world of Spain's greatest bullfighters opens in Tempe, Arizona this Friday, and two California screens the next.

Oscilloscope Pictures' "Dear Zachary," meanwhile, only managed $2,886 from its showing at the Cinema Village in New York. The film, which actually premiered prior to SXSW at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival, is director Kurt Kuenne's tribute to his murdered friend, Dr. Andrew Bagby. The woman who killed Bagby was pregnant with Bagby's son, Zachary, at the time of his murder. It opens in Chicago and Los Angeles this Friday.



DOX OFFICE | "Stranded" Opens, "Religulous" Top 2008 Doc

[Peter Knegt] Gonzalo Arijon's "Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains" was the top doc opener this past weekend. The Zeitgeist Films release, about the members of a rugby team from Montevideo, Uruguay that survived a plane crash, grossed a mild $3,077 on one screen at the Film Forum in New York City. This is not a particularly promising number as the film expands in coming weeks. It opens in Detroit, Berkeley, San Francisco and Los Angeles on November 7, followed by numerous cities through November and December.

As specialty releases in general have been releasing a very competitive number of narrative films as awards season approaches, doc releases have slowed in comparison. Which suggests that Larry Charles' "Religulous," which recently became the highest grossing doc of 2008, may permanently hold that title. The Bill Maher anti-organized religion film has grossed $10,563,579, making it the ninth highest grossing doc of all-time, and the highest of 2008. Behind it this year, as of Sunday, are "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" ($7,720,487), "Young@Heart" ($3,966,690), "Man on Wire" ($2,730,908), and "Gonzo" ($1,242,996). Not bad considering last year only 3 films ("Sicko," "No End in Sight", "In The Shadow of the Moon") crossed the $1 million mark.



DOX OFFICE | "Frontrunners," "Marriage" Find Modest Openings

[Peter Knegt] The third film to be theatrically released through Oscilloscope Pictures, "Frontrunners" follows the race for the office of Student Union President at Stuyvesant High School, New York City's most competitive public school. So far, "FLOW: For Love of Water" is Oscilloscope's top grosser with $110,065. Since opening last Wednesday, Caroline Suh's "Frontrunners" has grossed $10,011 from its run at New York's Film Forum, and its weekend gross of $6,888 topped a slew of high-profile openers with modest numbers.

"It seems the timeliness of a campaign film that's crowd-pleasing, funny and smart is refreshing to NYC audiences and the press," said Oscilloscope's David Fenkel in an interview with indieWIRE. "This inherent interest and the local grassroots campaign we executed with [the filmmakers] and Stuyvesant High School really paid off for a strong opening weekend. We are really pleased with the consistent turnout for the first 5 days and expect more school groups to attend more weekday shows and for additional sold out shows this upcoming weekend." This Friday the film expands to Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Philadelphia and Boston.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | "Frontrunners," "Marriage" Find Modest Openings"


DOX OFFICE | "Religulous" Leads Slow Doc Weekend

[Peter Knegt] The only doc to find a per-theater-average of over $1,000, Larry Charles' "Religulous" grossed $2,230,898 on 568 screens this weekend. The film fell a moderate 34% form last weekend, pushing the Bill Maher anti-organized religion doc's cume to $6,732,631. That's under a million dollars below 2008's top doc grosser, the vastly different creationist doc "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," which stands at $7,690,545. It also makes Lionsgate's "Religulous" the 13th highest grossing doc of all-time.

The second highest documentary PTA of the weekend belonged to James Marsh's "Man on Wire" in its 12th weekend out. The Magnolia Pictures-released account of French high wire artist Philippe Petit's feat atop the World Trade Center towers grossed $53,444 on 55 screens, and now has a total gross of $2,600,296. More recent releases like InterPositive Media's "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story" had more trouble finding such stamina. In its third weekend, Stefan Forbes' doc on "political rock star" Lee Atwater grossed $6,185 on 7 screens, taking its cume to $38,123.



DOX OFFICE | "Religulous" Hits 2008 High

[Peter Knegt] Larry Charles' doc "Religulous," featuring comic and "antitheist" Bill Maher taking on the religions of the world, grossed an impressive $3,409,642 over the weekend on just 502 screens. Not only is that they highest opening for a doc this year, "Religulous" is already the third highest grossing doc of 2008 (behind its ideological opposite, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," as well as "Young@Heart"). Including its two day run on only two screens last week, the Lionsgate release has totaled $3,428,633.

Another comedic doc, Truly Indie's "Allah Made Me Funny," opened to $38,867 on 14 screens. Directed by Michael Wolfe, the concert film showcases the comic talents of Muslim-Americans Azhar Usman, Bryant "Preacher" Moss and Mohammad Amer. It averaged a mild $2,776.

Among holdovers, Stefan Forbes's "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story" and Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's "Trouble The Water" held up in their second and seventh weekends, respectively. InterPositive Media's "Boogie," which follows Lee Atwater, a "political rock star" and mentor to George W. Bush and Karl Rove, among others, grossed $10,024 on 4 screens (a 2 screen expansion from last weekend), taking its total to $25,748. Zeitgeist's Katrina doc "Water" grossed $23,917 on 13 screens to have the third highest doc average - $1,840 - in its seventh weekend. Its total now stands at $323,457.



DOX OFFICE | High "Combination" At IFC Center

[Peter Knegt] On one screen at New York's IFC Center, Matt Wolf's "Wild Combination" had the highest per-theater average of any specialty film reporting this weekend. he Plexifilm release, which celebrates Arthur Russell, an important figure from New York's downtown music scene of the 1970s and 1980s, grossed $11,850. . The film features commentary from people such as Allen Ginsberg, ex-Modern Lover Ernie Brooks, composer Philip Glass, and Arthur's parents. Planned future screenings include October 10, 13 and 14 at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago and October 30 weekend at the Boston Museum of Fine Art.

"We had a lot of confidence that the film would do well, and we're glad that it's reaching more than just die-hard music aficionados," said Plexifilm's Gary Hustwit in an interview with indieWIRE. "To be able to expose more people to music like Arthur Russell's, and to introduce a great new filmmaker like Matt Wolf - it's exactly why we keep doing what we do."

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DOX OFFICE | Yoga Doc Surprises

[Peter Knegt] The surprising second weekend of Kate Churchill's yoga documentary, "Enlighten Up!," described as "a skeptic's journey into the world of yoga," grossed an impressive $8,598 in its sole run at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That takes "Enlighten"'s total up to $20,397 after two weekends. And while one must consider that the screenings did include actual free yoga classes led before select screenings and various yoga gear prizes, there is still something to be said for such grassroots marketing.

The top average for any doc this week belonged to the debut of Franklin Martin's "Walking On The Dead Fish." The film, which centers on the town of LaPlace, which was overrun with thousands of displaced New Orleans residents after Katrina, grossed $10,524 at the AMC Elmwood Palace 20 in Harahan, Louisiana. Fellow Katrina-themed doc, Zeitgeist release "Trouble The Water," held on well in its fifth weekend. On 14 screens, the film grossed $37,376, averaging $2,670 and taking its total to $238,591.



DOX OFFICE | "Flow" High, "Proud" Low

[Peter Knegt] It was a tale of two very different doc openers this weekend. One one end, Irena Salina's "Flow," the first film to be released through Oscilloscope Pictures (the distribution leg of Adam Yauch's Oscilloscope Laboratories), debuted to nice numbers. It grossed $16,610 on 2 screens (the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Los Angeles, and the Angelika Film Centre in New York). David Fenkel, the former THINKFilm exec hired to run Oscilloscope's operations, was quite pleased. "Both NYC and LA showed consistently strong business throughout the weekend with sellout primetime shows at both theaters," Fenkel said in an interview with indieWIRE.

Fenkel believes there is a promising future for "Flow." "Since Irena's film delivers in so many ways, it's impossible to not be engaged, enlightened and galvanized," he said. "[Our team], with the filmmakers, have been working for the past few months engaging all water-related groups and this grassroots effort is definitely paying off. Plus, we're getting tons of emails each day from groups and institutions all over the country asking for the film. So we expect 'Flow' to have a long theatrical life." That life will get tested in the next three weeks, as Oscilloscope will expand "Flow" to the top 15 markets. The film will expand to the top 15 markets in the next three weeks.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | "Flow" High, "Proud" Low"


DOX OFFICE | "Jihad," "Water," "Wire" Hold Steady

[Peter Knegt] In its sixteenth week of screening on a few screens, Parvez Sharma's "A Jihad For Love" opened at Landmark Theaters in both Seattle and Washington and found itself with the highest per theatre average of any documentary. It averaged $4,748 from the two screens, taking its total to a seemingly modest $95,700, which is actually quite impressive considering its never played on more than a few screens. The doc, which indieWIRE profiled the film upon its initial May release, explores the relationship between gays and Muslims.

No new docs entered the market this weekend, but among more recently released documentaries, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Katrina doc, "Trouble The Water" continued to perform quite well. The Zeitgeist release held steady from last weekend, grossing $41,900 on 9 screens in its third weekend, a 3% drop. It averaged $4,656 and took its total to $146,384 with much of its expansion still to come. In its seventh week James Marsh's "Man on Wire" dropped only 11% despite only adding one screen. Now on 92 screens, the Magnolia Pictures release grossed another $208,522, taking its total to a fantastic $1,802,569.



DOX OFFICE | "Water" Holds High

[Peter Knegt] Due to the Labor Day weekend, numbers came in a bit late this time around... Expanding to 8 screens, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Katrina doc, "Trouble the Water," held up well in its second weekend. Grossing $51,178 over the four-day weekend, for a strong $6,397 average, the film's total now stands at $92,605 going into a slow-and-stead expansion. The film is booked into over 50 cities across the country (check out "Water"'s expansion schedule here).

Aaron Rose's "Beautiful Losers" bounced back a bit after a disappointing two weekends following a potent opening. Screening again at the IFC Center in New York and opening at the Nuart in Los Angeles, the self-distributed "Losers" grossed $8,062 over the weekend, for a decent $4,031 average and a $31,743 cume after four weekends. It opens in San Francisco this Friday and Portland, Oregon the next.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | "Water" Holds High"


DOX OFFICE | High "Water," So-So "I.O.U.S.A."

[Peter Knegt] As the iW BOT article that was published this evening at indieWIRE noted, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's Katrina doc, "Trouble the Water," grossed a strong $28,606 on 3 screens for Zeitgeist Films this weekend. Though its $9,535 average is considerably behind Zeitgeist's biggest 2008 hit, "Up The Yangtze," which debuted to a $15,851 average back in April, "Water" actually scored much higher - $21,501 - at the IFC Center, where "Yangtze" had its sole debut.

I spoke to Zeitgeist's Nancy Gerstman for the iW BOT piece, and she explained: "We had a really terrific team working on the film so our expectations were pretty high and I think high expectations have been fulfilled because the IFC gross was stupendous. 'Up the Yangtze' has done really well. And for this film, I have higher expectations." Gerstman said the film is already booked into 50 cities across the country (check out "Water"'s expansion schedule here). "Since the grosses at IFC was really so good the expansion will grow by leaps and bounds," she said. "We've already been called by a lot theaters today and we will continue to book theatres." For more the full story on "Water," check out this article.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | High "Water," So-So "I.O.U.S.A.""


DOX OFFICE | Art Rules in Documentary Theatres

[Peter Knegt] It was once again an art-centric documentary box office this weekend with all of the top five doc per-theatre averages belonging to those covering "artists." While no debut releases reported to Rentrak (from whom indieWIRE attains its information), last week's trio of debuts traded places in the ranks. Last weekend, Aaron Rose's self-distributed "Beautiful Losers" scored the top doc numbers, but this weekend it fell behind, remaining on one New York screen and seeing its gross drop nearly 75% to $2,539. The film, which takes a look at a group of do-it-yourself artists who rose to art world fame in the 1990s, now has a total of $18,748. It expands to Los Angeles on August 29th.

Other sophomores Steven Sebring's "Patti Smith: Dream of Life" and Camille Guichard's "Louise Bourgeois" saw less "Losers"-esque results. "Smith" led them all, grossing $6,703 on one screen for Palm Pictures. Its total now stands at nearly double that of "Losers," with $30,918. But it was underdog "Louise" that was the most impressive, as its gross actually rose from $3,846 to $5,052, despite remaining in the sole theatre. The Zeitgeist release actually opened in New York in June, prior to the distributor's acquisition of it, and grossed $46,514. After two weeks in re-release, its total now stands at $61,665.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | Art Rules in Documentary Theatres"


DOX OFFICE | "Losers," "Patti Smith" Score Notable Debuts

[Peter Knegt] Aaron Rose's "Beautiful Losers" and Steven Sebring's "Patti Smith: Dream of Life" both scored with sole screen debuts, as two artist-centered documentaries found themselves high on the specialty box office chart. "Losers," produced by Sidetrack Films and uniquely self-distributed, details a group of do-it-yourself artists who rose to art world fame in the 1990s, while "Smith," released by Palm Pictures, is a portrait of poet, painter, musician and singer Patti Smith.

"Losers" grossed $10,607 at New York's IFC Center, while "Smith" grossed $9,993 at NYC's Film Forum. Their grosses are quite high for musician or artist focused docs. This weekend saw a third example, Camille Guichard's "Louis Bourgeois" (about the artist of the same name) gross a much more modest $3,846 on one screen (which remains reasonable considering both "Losers" and "Smith" are much higher profile releases). Other examples include last December's "A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory" which grossed $2,523 on one screens its opening weekend, while this past April, "Glass: A Portrait Of Philip In 12 Parts" took $5,546 on the same.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | "Losers," "Patti Smith" Score Notable Debuts"


Thoughts On Doc Box Office Health, "Beautiful Losers" Finds A New Alternative

[Mark Rabinowitz] While I am not yet ready to proclaim "Docs are back!" even though my friend AJ Schnack would like me to, I am also not ready to agree with my friend Agnes Varnum's recent indieWIRE column. The thing is, both pieces have a lot to say about the hope for docs in today's theatrical landscape and, to be honest, I don't think either author is entirely on base. I don't think Agnes' piece proves to be as depressing as its title implies and I don't think AJ's piece really has the evidence to counter her title.

» Continue reading "Thoughts On Doc Box Office Health, "Beautiful Losers" Finds A New Alternative"


DOX OFFICE | "Wire" and "Teen" Fight Sophomore Pressures

[Peter Knegt] Last weekend, two of the year's most anticipated documentaries, James Marsh's "Man on Wire" and Nanette Burstein's "American Teen" hit screens with two different outcomes. "Wire" reached year-high heights, averaging $25,696, the highest for any documentary since last summer's "SiCKO." "Teen," which received substantially more hype and advertising, averaged a bit more than a third of that with $9,118. Which is certainly not a disaster - it is one of the ten highest doc openings of the year - but probably a lot less than the folks at Paramount Vantage had hoped for when they won the bidding war for "Teen" at this year's Sundance.

A week later, the question mark regarding how "Wire" will do as it expands and if "Teen" has the legs to improve on its modest opening remains. "Wire" expanded from 2 to 4 screens and saw its average drop a little less than 50% to $13,750. "SiCKO," the last documentary to reach "Wire"'s opening average, expanded incomparably from 1 to 441 screens and reasonably saw its average drop from nearly $70,000 to $10,208. Recent and more similar second weekends, such as "Up The Yangtze," "Encounters at the End of the World," and "Gonzo," all saw their averages drop well over 50% in their second weekends. So for "Wire," so far, so good. But the real test for "Wire" will be next weekend, when Magnolia Pictures expands it to over 15 markets, and whether its New York-centric storyline fuels box office outside of New York (where all 4 of its theaters were this weekend).

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | "Wire" and "Teen" Fight Sophomore Pressures"


DOX OFFICE | "Man on Wire" Hits a 2008 High, Leads Slew of Openers

[Peter Knegt] With an opening average higher than any documentary since last summer's "SiCKO," James Marsh's "Man on Wire" dominated an unusually doc-heavy weekend at the box office. "Wire," which details French high wire artist Philippe Petit's feat atop the World Trade Center towers, grossed $51,392 in 2 New York City locations. The Magnolia Pictures release had the highest average of any film this weekend (yes, including "The Dark Knight") and is the fifth highest per screen opening of any documentary in the past five years, surpassing "Super Size Me" and "Grizzly Man," among others.

Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles stated in today's indieWIRE box office column that "the most impressive testament to how well the film is going over is that we performed way over a traditional Sunday pattern despite having no personal appearances. I reported an estimate of $48,000 for the weekend and we actually ended up grossing over $51,000. That's just word of mouth revving up, It's also pretty impressive how we performed against our doc competition that mightily outspent us." How the film fares as it expands will be telling if "Wire" has managed to buck the recent doc-slump. The film will stay New York-centric this upcoming weekend, continuing at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and Landmark's Sunshine Cinema (its two opening locales) and expanding to the AMC Empire 25 and City Cinemas 86th Street East. The following weekend, it opens in over 15 additional markets.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | "Man on Wire" Hits a 2008 High, Leads Slew of Openers"


Doc-Linkage: IndiePix Studios; Kanye West; German Genetic Doping Doc; Schnack Ponders

[Mark Rabinowitz] A "here a doc, there a doc, everywhere a doc doc" survey of what's going on today in the world of documentaries and to be honest, we're all over the place!

IndiePix announces new Studios, Harrington In Charge
indieWIRE reports on the launch of IndiePix Studios and industry vet Ryan Harrington's move from Tribeca's Gucci Fund to the new venture. IndiePIx is the founding sponsor of the Cinema Eye Honors and a shining light in the doc world. For those of you who like documentaries (and face it, if you're here, you like) this is great news. IndiePix has been a staunch advocate for non-fiction cinema and has been at the forefront of exploring new ways to get docs into theaters, homes and online.
DISCLAIMER: IndiePix is a supplier of films to SnagFilms, parent of indieWIRE.
NOTE: According to the indieWIRE story, Harrington will "maintain some role" at the Gucci Fund.

Kanye Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is
According to UK music mag NME (New Music Express), the outspoken star will be visiting "homes of the returned veterans to discuss stories about the war and how they are adjusting to life back home," along with MTV VJ Sway Calloway for a documentary entitled "Choose Or Lose & Kanye West Present: Homecoming." Apparently, West will leave each veteran with a financial gift, be that college tuition, rent money or paying off their debt. Dude. That's seriously cool. I wonder what you would call a larger agency with trillions of dollars whose responsibility it is to take care of America's returning veterans....? Oh right! The U.S. government! Kanye shows up W again.

» Continue reading "Doc-Linkage: IndiePix Studios; Kanye West; German Genetic Doping Doc; Schnack Ponders"


DOX OFFICE | "Lou Reed" Leads Slow Weekend, "Polanski" Per-Screen Pales

[Peter Knegt] The debut Julian Schnabel's "Lou Reed's Berlin" led all documentaries on specialty-focused iW BOT over the weekend, according to indieWIRE Box Office Tracking (iW BOT) numbers from Rentrak. The Third Rail Releasing doc that covers Lou Reed's 2006 live concert performance of his 1973 concept album "Berlin" grossed $8,280 from from exclusive runs at New York's Film Forum and Los Angeles' Nuart Theatre, for an average of $4,140. The film was the fourth release and first documentary to come out of Harvey and Bob Weinstein's Third Rail, which so far has seen its biggest hit in George Romero's faux-doc "Diary of the Dead."

Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson's "A Man Named Pearl," which actually debuted as an independent release last September and grossed over $80,000 since, was released by Shadow Distribution at New York's Angelika Film Center this weekend, taking in $2,936. The moderate tally remains the second-highest average out of all docs this weekend, and "Pearl" expands next weekend, adding 6 screens across California.

» Continue reading "DOX OFFICE | "Lou Reed" Leads Slow Weekend, "Polanski" Per-Screen Pales"