Most critics didn't love it, but for the second week in a row, viewers streamed in anyway. Still playing at just two theaters, Joshua Seftel's comedy-drama War, Inc. (First Look), starring John Cusack, averaged $12,100 per screen to continue its reign at the top of the indie weekend box office chart, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. That gives it a two-week total of $78,700. Among new specialty releases, Leonard Klady at Movie City News reports that Tom Kalin's drama Savage Grace (IFC Films) made $11,150 per screen at the two theaters in New York where it opened. Julianne Moore stars in a suffocating period piece about a twisted mother/son relationship. You can read more about it in the reviews by Nick Schager and Kim Voynar.
Jody Hill's comedy The Foot Fist Way (Paramount Vantage) opened in four theaters and earned $8,550 per engagement, according to Mr. Klady. Patrick Walsh offered up a mostly positive review on this "character study about a character you'd never want to meet," a children's Tae Kwon Do instructor who goes off the rails when his wife cheats on him.
Jeffrey M. Anderson described Giuseppe Tornatore's The Unknown Woman (Outsider Films) as "a restless, panicked, devastating emotional roller coaster, meticulously planned and executed like a razor." The film follows the travails of a woman who leaves the Ukraine to look for work in Italy. It made $6,000 at one theater in Manhattan.
Stuck (ThinkFilm), a thriller directed by Stuart Gordon, earned $5,100 each at two theaters in New York and Los Angeles. This is a terrific thriller, starring Menu Suvari and Stephen Rea, and deserves a wider audience. If you don't believe my review, consult Scott Weinberg.
No figures have been reported so far for Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (Magnolia), Christopher Bell's entertaining, surprising documentary on steroid use in America, which opened in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles. In the absence of financial figures, why not read my review instead and see why I recommended it?
1. Living in San Francisco has it's perks. I thought that having a wide variety of great films to go see was one of them. War Inc. isn't playing anywhere around here and aside from a couple random screenings of The Visitor, Son of Rambow, and The Fall, almost all the screens around town are double-stuffed with the regular blockbusters. Too bad. Rent's too expensive and there's not much out to see. Hopefully, the next few weeks will see expansions of Savage Grace so I can go leave my house.
Scott
he-shot-cyrus.blogspot.com
Posted at 4:20PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by Scott