Coraline 15th Anniversary notched a nice no. 5 at the domestic box office with $8.63 million for the three-day weekend on 1,603 screens. The cume of $11.6 million including Thursday broke its previous record for Fathom Events. Last year, the stop-motion animated feature by Henry Selick became the distributor’s highest-grossing classic with $7m+ at the box office over four days.
Coraline debuted in 2009 with an opening weekend gross of $16.8 million heading to $75.3 million domestically and $127 million globally. The PG-rated film based on the popular 2002 book by Neil Gaiman, was the first to be originally filmed in 3-D – with CG effects.
Dakota Fanning voices a young girl named Coraline, who walks through a secret door in her new house and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life — only much better. But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous and her counterfeit parents, including Other Mother (Teri Hatcher) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home.
In theaters through Aug 22, available in 3D and 2D.
Rounding out the top 10, Prathyangira Cinemas’ Hindi supernatural comedy horror Stree 2 by Amar Kaushik saw a $2.18 million three-day weekend at 666 locations with a $2.57 million cume including Thursday. The fifth installment in the Maddock Supernatural Universe and sequel to Stree (2018) was the biggest opening in India this year.
Based on an urban legend out of Bangalore about a malevolent witch who roams the streets at night preying on unsuspecting men, convincing them to open their doors by mimicing the voices of the men’s mother, wife, or sister. They’re dead and disappeared in 24 hours, leaving only their clothes behind.
Roadside Attractions’ My Penguin Friend had a nice debut of $1+ million at 1,080 theaters for the PG-rated family comedy. Inspired by a true story, a lost penguin forms an epically strong bond with the fisherman who rescued it from an oil spill. The inspirational family film hails from Brazil and Argentina where a Magellanic penguin (given the name Dindim) spent months with the fisherman, swam away, but then returned annually for eight years. It’s 85% with critics/96% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, 71% on Metacritic.
Roadside promoted the film with wildlife and oceanic groups as well as with both faith and Latino audiences, and performed the best in the West and Southwest. With many children still out of school, it could continue to find audiences through the rest of the summer.
Mixing up new openings and holdovers here with Focus Features Sundance audience Award-winner DÌDI expanding into additional markets in week four with an A CinemaScore, a 94% RT Audience Score and 96% with critics. The film’s 3-day weekend estimate is $700k from 427 theaters. Its estimated cume to date stands at $2.7M. NY, San Fransciso and LA continue to be the leading markets for the film.
IFC Films’ Skincare by Austin Peters opened to $316k at 768 theaters. The R-rated black comedy stars Elizabeth Banks as a famed Hollywood aesthetician convinced someone is trying to destroy her life and her business. The distributor noted that some theaters are having problems reporting Saturday grosses for the film so the number may be updated Monday.
Republic Pictures’ Rob Peace opened to a $253k weekend on 481 screens. Directed, adapted by and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Sing Sing from A24 starring Colman Domingo, in week 4, grossed about $252k on 112 screens for a gross of $1.19 million for the Greg Kwedar film.
CatVideoFest 2024 saw $82.6k in week 3, with the kitty compilation by Will Braden, distributed by Oscilloscope, passed the $500k market for a cume of $540k. It’s the fastest the annual cinema event has reached that milestone since Oscilloscope began handling distribution in 2019, and with very limited showtimes — typically no more than weekend matinees. With dozens of sold out shows, theaters have been scrambling to book encores to meet demand, Oscilloscope said.
Metrograph’s debut feature Good One expanded to 13 theatres and 6 new markets in week 2 for a 3-day estimate of $45.3k and cume of $85.1k. The feature film debut by India Donaldson saw strong holdovers at existing runs in NYC and LA as well as encouraging numbers out of Toronto, Boston, and Washington DC, among others. Reviews are great with a Rotten Tomatoes Score at 97% and an audience score of 100% as word-of-mouth continue to drive strong audience responses. Expands into 8 new markets this coming weekend.
Sony Pictures Classics’ Kneecap by Rich Peppiatt saw $38.4k in week 3 on 58 screens (down from 204) for a cume of $948.4k.
Utopia opened Robert Schwartzman’s Tribeca-lauded The Good Half on select screens in North America this weekend. Led by Nick Jonas alongside Elisabeth Shue, David Arquette, Brittany Snow, Alexandra Shipp and more, the independent dramedy took in an estimated $38K over the weekend, propelled by a star-studded event screening in LA at the Saban theater earlier this week and has grossed $146K to date in theaters (factoring in nationwide sneak previews July 23 and 25 in partnership with Fathom Events which was paired with an exclusive virtual Q&A featuring Schwartzman and Jonas).