‘El Angel’ Blessed With OK Bow; ‘Chef Flynn’ Solid, ‘Boy Erased’ Expands: Specialty Box Office

Star-driven specialties mostly took a pause this weekend, though the big ticket awards-release Friday, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs from Netflix, had a courtesy theatrical release in a few Landmark theater locations, giving the Coen brothers release the watermarks of an awards release.

The focus is still on its core streaming service, so box office numbers are not released by Netflix. But a quick check at the theater website shows the musical-Western, starring Liam Neeson, James Franco, and Zoe Kazan, played in smaller houses. So the theatrical experience for this title will be for a very select NY and L.A. coastal crowd, and likely not a big box office number. But that’s how it was designed. Some of the other big fall releases will follow suit, with symbolic theatricals via Netflix, including Alfonso Cuarón’s amazing Roma and Susanne Bier’s anticipated Bird Box.

On the actual specialty theatrical release side this weekend, The Orchard released Argentina’s foreign-language Oscar submission, El Angel, produced by the Almodóvars, in two theaters, grossing $25,472 for a solid $12,736.

Kino Lorber bowed Cameron Yates’ Sundance doc Chef Flynn exclusively at Film Forum in New York for $8,100, while The Film Arcade did theatrical for Hannah Fidell’s and Sundance’s The Long Dumb Road, taking in $5K with an exclusive weekend run.

China Lion gave a North American bow for Chinese drama-romance Last Letter in 18 theaters, grossing $70K ($3,889 average) and the Met Opera had event screenings of Lan Fanciulla Del West in 900 locations, grossing $903K.

NEW RELEASES

Chef Flynn (Kino Lorber Films) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $8,100

El Angel (The Orchard) NEW [2 Theaters] Weekend $25,473, Average $12,736

The Long Dumb Road (Universal Home Entertainment/The Film Arcade) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $5,000

Last Letter (China Lion) NEW [18 Theaters] Weekend $70,000, Average $3,889

MET Opera: La Fanciulla Del West (2018) (Fathom Events) NEW [900 Theaters] Weekend $903,000, Average $1,003, Cume $1,903,000

RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND

Bodied (Neon) Week 2 [17 Theaters] Weekend $28,448, Average $1,673, Cume $100,100

Boy Erased (Focus Features) Week 2 [77 Theaters] Weekend $725,000, Average $9,408, Cume $998,000

Maria By Callas (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 2 [26 Theaters] Weekend $97,350, Average $3,744, Cume $308,732

A Private War (Aviron Pictures) Week 2 [38 Theaters] Weekend $201,400, Average $5,300, Cume $283,843

HOLDOVERS / THIRD+ WEEKENDS

Border (Neon) Week 3 [15 Theaters] Weekend $45,077, Average $3,005, Cume $241,683

Burning (Well Go USA) Week 3 [27 Theaters] Weekend $79,644, Average $2,950, Cume $198,796

Monrovia, Indiana (Zipporah Films) Week 3 [10 Theaters] Weekend $8,804, Average $880, Cume $36,334

Suspiria (Amazon Studios) Week 3 [261 Theaters] Weekend $326,250, Average $1,250, Cume $1,904,805

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight) Week 4 [391 Theaters] Weekend $1,475,000, Average $3,772, Cume $3,609,977

Mid90s (A24) Week 4 [340 Theaters] Weekend $400,000, Average $1,176, Cume $6,817,490

What They Had (Bleecker Street) Week 4 [53 Theaters] Weekend $35,391, Average $668, Cume $222,133

Wildlife (IFC Films) Week 4 [106 Theaters] Weekend $142,638, Average $1,346, Cume $611,104

Beautiful Boy (Amazon Studios) Week 5 [776 Theaters] Weekend $1,404,560, Average $1,810, Cume $5,181,511

The Happy Prince (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 5 [73 Theaters] Weekend $16,301, Average $223, Cume $428,600

The Great Buster: A Celebration (Cohen Media Group) Week 6 [14 Theaters] Weekend $16,569, Average $1,183, Cume $67,386

Free Solo (National Geographic Documentary Film/Greenwich Entertainment) Week 7 [266 Theaters] Weekend $774,915, Average $2,913, Cume $8,121,786

The Old Man & The Gun (Fox Searchlight) Week 7 [395 Theaters] Weekend $470,000, Average $1,190, Cume $10,230,835

Colette (Bleecker Street) Week 8 [81 Theaters] Weekend $83,631, Average $1,032, Cume $4,976,625

Tea With The Dames (Sundance Selects) Week 8 [43 Theater] Weekend $38,172, Average $888, Cume $763,353

The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 13 [35 Theaters] Weekend $26,774, Average $765, Cume $7,738,682