Sony’s Tom Hanks-starrer A Man Called Otto banked $4.2 million in a lively second frame as it moved to 637 locations nationwide from four in NY and LA. Strong word of mouth propelled moviegoers into seats with particular strength in the heartland and momentum looks good as the adult drama/comedy heads into next week’s wide expansion for the holiday weekend. It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day next Monday.
Otto made $1.5 million Friday, $1.7 million Saturday, and a projected $1 million Sunday with a strong $6.6k per screen average and a cume of $4.28 million. Audience response drove the jump — the film has a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, versus a 68% from critics. It’s no. 4 at the domestic box office.
The remake of the Swedish film based on a New York Times bestseller started the first phase of a three-step rollout last weekend in an exclusive run at four LA and NY theaters, grossing $60k for a $15k per screen average over the three-day New Year’s weekend and $75K, or an $18.7k PSA, over the four days. It goes wide next weekend, Jan. 13.
Top grossing DMAs include Austin, San Antonio, Detroit, Tampa, Salt Lake, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Seattle, Tacoma, Denver, Orlando, Sacramento and San Diego are other markets that over-indexed.
Hanks plays Otto Anderson, a grump who no longer sees purpose in his life following the loss of his wife. He’s ready to end it all but turns it around when a lively young family moves in next door.
It’s good news in this market when an adult film plays well. Sony’s Where The Crawdads Sing, also based on a bestseller, released last summer, made $90 million and played best outside of the coasts. That had a different trajectory, opening wide immediately.
(Otto also earned $4 million this weekend from 2,875+ screens in 10 early markets for an international cume of $8.4 million.)
This is a weekend short on new specialty releases. Mubi opened Alcarràs, winner of the Golden Bear in Berlin, on five screens in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Quiver Distribution presented Candy Land in nine theaters. No grosses yet reported.
In terms of holdovers, however, there are many: The Whale grossed an estimated $1.5 million on 835 screens in week for a cume of $8.58M, increasing in total box office from the holiday and with the strongest holdover in the top 10. The best limited opening of 2022 starring Brendan Fraser was no. 7 at the domestic box office.
United Artists Releasing expanded Women Talking to 14 markets/29 runs in week three for a strong $143k three-day gross – up 214% — a per screen average of $4.8k, and a cume of $340k.
Sony Pictures Classics doc Turn Every Page grossed 17,425 on four screens (up from wo last week) for a per screen average of $4.4k and a cume of $39.7k. SPC’s Living, in week three, grossed $42.6k on 11 screens (up from three last week), for a PSA of $3.9k and a cume of $120.4k.
Broker, from Neon, grossed $75k this weekend on 17 screens in week three for a PSA of $4.4K and a cume of $149.2k. The distributor’s doc All The Beauty and the Bloodshed, on 24 screens in week 7, has cumed $325.8k.
IFC Films expanded Corsage to 317 theaters in week three grossing an estimated $250k (PSA of $789). The estimated cume now stands at $340,789, making this the highest-grossing Austrian film in the US since 2014’s Goodnight Mommy.
From Sideshow and Janus Films, No Bears grossed an estimated $7,4k on a single screen in its third weekend, for a new cume of $38.5k. EO took in an estimated $65k on 62 screens in its eighth weekend, for a PSA of $1k and a new cume of $553.9k.
