Roadside Attractions’ faith-based family comedy Family Camp opened to $1.42 million and is no. 9 of the top 10 ten this weekend on 854 screens. One of the strongest indie openings this year, the film saw a release campaign led by WTA Media lean heavily into the faith-based audience with strong grassroots marketing to churches and ministry organizations, an active digital and social presence and partnerships with the K-LOVE and Air1 faith-based radio networks.
Star Tommy Woodard and Eddie James (The Skit Guys) have promoted the film at their live events for the past six months.
Top performing markets were centered in the Midwest and South and include LA/Orange County, Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Nashville, and Sacramento for the story of two polar-opposite families that find themselves reluctantly sharing a cabin for a week away at church camp. With a highly coveted camp trophy at stake, dads Tommy and Eddie end up lost in the woods.
“We are happy with Family Camp’s Top 10 performance as the indie market begins to open up. Families turned out across the country for this faith-based comedy,” said Roadside co-president Howard Cohen. The specialty box office has been notoriously hard to predict but he had hoped to be in the seven figures.
Estimated three-day box-office grosses for the PG-rated pic, PSA of $1,670, broke down to Friday: $499,110; Saturday: $530,095; Sunday: $397,570.
Meanwhile, Neon’s unrated Pleasure, the debut feature by Sweden’s Ninja Thyberg about the Los Angeles porn industry made $17.3K on two screens in NY and LA for a PSA of$8.6K. Breakdown – Friday: $10.3K; Sat: $3.8K; Sun: $3.1K.
Bleecker Street’s Montana Story about a complicated reunion of estranged siblings on their family ranch, grossed $20.1K this weekend in four theaters for a PTA of $5,026. Breakdown – Friday: $8,743; Saturday: $6,492; Sunday: $4,869. It will be rolling out to reach about 300 theaters Memorial Day weekend.
IFC Midnight’s The Innocents from Eskil Vogt (Best Screenplay Oscar winner with Joachim Trier for The Worst Person In the World) opened in 32 theaters for a weekend gross of $12,500 and a PSA of $391.
Greenwich Entertainment’s Mau, a documentary portrait of renowned Canadian designer Bruce Mau, grossed an estimated $7.5K on two screens for a PSA of $3.75K.
Sony Pictures Classics opened Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story to a debut of $7,469 on five screens, with a per screen average of $1,494.
The overall box office — commercial and specialty – is still trying to find its footing.
“Last weekend, it was Doctor Strange with $185 million [dropped sharply this weekend] and then Firestarter with disappointing $3-4 million, day-and-date on Peacock. The same thing in specialty. With Everything Everywhere All At Once throwing off big numbers,” while more traditional The Duke, Petit Maman and others hover in a lower range versus pre-pandemic, said one distributor.
Breaking $5k for specialty /arthouse is now considered solid open, a new normal, as older arthouse demos continue to dither about returning the theaters. The ArcLight LA closed a year and a half ago. The Landmark LA announced last week it is shutting at the end of May. Plus some day-and-date openings or short windows. “To say you can get the same per-screen averages [as before] is not realistic. There’s a recalibration of what’s considered good and bad, and it changes every week.”