Weekend Box Office (October 21 - 23, 2005) A pair of R-rated star vehicles debuted impressively in limited release launching in eight theaters a piece. Buena Vista grossed $229,685 for a sparkling $28,711 average with Shopgirl. The R-rated comedy about a woman choosing between a successful older man and a younger man more her age stars Steve Martin, Claire Danes, and Jason Schwartzman and is adapted from Martin's own novel. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. debuted the Val Kilmer-Robert Downey Jr. caper pic Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang to the tune of $180,660 for a strong $22,583 average. Shopgirl will see further expansions on the next two Fridays and Kiss will go wide on November 11. 

A number of arthouse holdovers continued to perform well in limited release. Warner Independent Pictures' George Clooney-directed Good Night, and Good Luck flirted with the top ten by expanding from 68 to 225 theaters for a weekend gross of $2.3M. Averaging a still-solid $10,040, the PG-rated pic is holding up very well as it widens to additional markets and bumped its cume to $4.5M. The distributor is taking its time rolling the film out and its patience is paying off. Good Night widens to 500-700 playdates on November 4.  [Note from dave: it ranked 12th place that week]

Sony Classics took in $614,527 for its biopic Capote averaging $11,818 from 52 locations. Total sits at $2.2M. Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony Pictures Entertainment grossed $315,339 from 40 sites for a $7,883 average for its Jeff Daniels-Laura Linney starrer The Squid and the Whale which has grossed $915,485 to date. http://www.boxofficeguru.com/102405.htm

Weekend Box Office (October 28 - 30, 2005)

Among films in limited release, Warner Independent Pictures saw another solid performance for its Edward R. Murrow pic Good Night, and Good Luck which grossed $2M from 272 locations (up 47) for a $7,366 average. The George Clooney-directed film has taken in $7.2M thus far and will expand to 550-600 playdates this Friday. The distributor also debuted its suicide bomber drama Paradise Now in just four houses but grossed $48,023 for an encouraging $12,006 per theater. Palestine's first official entry to the Oscars will widen to the top ten markets next weekend.

Aloha Releasing went wide with its hip hop romance thriller G which went from 8 to 495 theaters this weekend grossing $1.3M. Averaging $2,588 per site, the R-rated film upped its sum to $1.9M. Buena Vista expanded its Steve Martin pic Shopgirl from 8 to 42 sites and doubled its gross to $463,555 for a solid $11,037 average. Total stands at $775,200. http://www.boxofficeguru.com/103105.htm

Weekend Box Office (November 4 - 6, 2005) Jumping into the top ten for the first time was George Clooney's McCarthy era drama Good Night, and Good Luck which grossed $3M after expanding nationally from 272 to 657 locations. The average of $4,667 per theater remained solid as the total climbed to $11M. 

Buena Vista saw its Steve Martin-Claire Danes comedy Shopgirl widen from 42 to 493 theaters and leap into the top ten with $2.5M. The love triangle pic averaged a strong $5,113 per location and will continue to expand throughout November. Cume stands at $3.5M.   http://www.boxofficeguru.com/110705.htm 

from boxoffice prophets the same weekend, nov 4-6:

Good Night, and Good Luck moves into the top ten this weekend, despite having a quarter the screens as some of its competition. The film, which pits Edgar R. Murrow against Joe McCarthy, grossed $3.1 million from 657 venues, giving it a strong venue average of $4,718. The George Clooney piece cost Warner Independent Pictures about $7 million to make, and already after a few weekends of limited release, Good Night has already earned $11 million." http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=9262 ---

Weekend Box Office (November 11 - 13, 2005)

Rounding out the top ten was the potent debut of the period drama Pride and Prejudice which bowed in only 215 theaters but grossed a healthy $2.9M for a sparkling $13,326 average. The Focus release has already collected an impressive $40M internationally including $25.3M back home in the U.K. where it held the number one spot for four weeks this fall. The release on this side of the Atlantic will widen in the weeks ahead as Focus uses a release pattern similar to those used by parent Universal on previous British imports opening in November like Love Actually and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Those films began with 500-600 theaters and averaged $11,955 and $16,385, respectively, on their opening weekends before adding more screens throughout the holiday season. 

Debuting in limited release, Roadside Attractions' comedy Sarah Silverman - Jesus is Magic impressed with $124,475 from only seven sites for a stellar $17,782 per theater. Fox Searchlight opened its Richard Gere drama Bee Season and collected $120,544 from 21 theaters for a $5,740 average per location.

Four adult-skewing films dropped out of the top ten this weekend. George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck slipped just 18% to $2.5M to boost its cume to $14.5M. Warner Independent will increase its run from 668 to about 850 theaters on Friday. Steve Martin's Shopgirl slipped only 29% to $1.8M as its cume rose to $6.1M. Per-theater averages for the two films were $3,745 and $3,655, respectively. http://www.boxofficeguru.com/111405.htm

from boxofficeprophets that same weekend, nov 11-13:

"Tenth is another big surprise. Despite being at only 215 venues, Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley, managed a gross of $2.8 million this weekend. That's a huge average of $13,041 and the opening gross pushes other art films like Good Night, and Good Luck (11th with $2.6 million) and Shopgirl (12th with $1.8 million) out of the top ten. BOP will have more on Pride and Prejudice in the weeks to come." http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=9271 ---

Weekend Box Office (November 18 - 20, 2005)
Rounding out the top ten was the period drama Pride & Prejudice which stayed put in the ten spot for the second weekend with $2.1M from limited release. Slipping a mere 25%, the Focus release averaged a stellar $9,690 per theater from only 221 sites and will expand nationally this Wednesday into 1,100 locations. Cume sits at $6M. {note: Good Night is not mentioned, but is ranked 11th in the chart}  http://www.boxofficeguru.com/112105.htm ---

from boxoffice prophets the same weekend, November 18-20:

"Tenth goes to Pride and Prejudice from Focus Features. Out to only 221 venues, the period piece grossed $2.1 million, down only 26% from last weekend. Not including Pride, the average drop this weekend was 58%, so you can see how positive this weekend's score is for Keira Knightley flick. Pride now sits with a domestic total of $6 million, and has already earned over $40 million overseas. Not bad for a film that cost its studio only $28 million to make." http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=9283 ---

Weekend Box Office (November 25 - 27, 2005)

Focus expanded its British period romance Pride & Prejudice nationwide moving from 221 to 1,299 theaters and jumped up three spots into the number seven position with $7.2M. The Keira Knightley pic averaged a solid $5,510 per location and put its total at $16M. Fellow femme-driven film Derailed dropped 29% to $4.6M in its third weekend pushing the sum to $29.3M. [Note, Good Night has dropped to 15th with a $19.5 mill cum, Capote to 17th with $9.0 mill, Shopgirl to 19th with $8.8 mill. none are mentioned in the narrative.] http://www.boxofficeguru.com/112805.htm ---

from Weekend Box Office Wrap-Up for November 25-27, 2005:

"Seventh goes to Pride and Prejudice, which in wide release failed to excel like it did in limited venues. P&P grossed $7 million in its first wide release weekend, albeit from only 1,299 venues. Its venue average of $5,409 was the fourth best in the top ten. From Focus Features, this version of P&P features Keira Knightley as Elizabeth, and has a total so far of $15.9 million." http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=9291 ---

Weekend Box Office (December 2 - 4, 2005)

Still doing well in moderate national release is George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck which brought in $1.1M, down 44%, pushing the total to a solid $21M. [Note: it is in 14th place.]

Meanwhile, Clooney's oil industry thriller Syriana enjoyed another explosive weekend in limited release taking in $521,420 from only nine theaters for a scorching average of $57,936. Cume to date is $1.3M. This Friday, Warner Bros. expands Syriana nationwide into about 1,750 theaters representing the frame's only new film for mature adult audiences. It will face Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia which is widely expected to end Harry Potter's three-week reign at the top when it roars into well over 3,000 theaters. http://www.boxofficeguru.com/120505.htm

Analysis:

I think the example Brokeback would love to track is Good Night, and hopefully go beyond it. Good Night started strong, and went national pretty successfully. Equalling that would make Brokeback a success; much more is still the dream.

Shopgirl, and several others like The Squid & The Whale also had great openers in a handful of theaters the first weekend, and Shopgirl did kinda middling--actually very good for an arthouse pic, but not out into the mainstream--all the others went nowhere.

That Syriana average of $74,900 is truly sensational. (It also stars George Clooney, a true major movie star.) Any film, including Brokeback would be wildly excited to come anywhere near that. And we'll see how Syriana does when it goes wide.

Note that Brokeback is going to use a much slower rollout than these, so the first few weeks can track, but then we need different models. [Brokeback is using the annual Oscar-rollout strategy, so we would have to check back to previous years. Million Dollar Baby would be an example of a film that used that strategy and made several times what the industry expected, around $100 million. Very unlikely Brokeback could go near that level.]