‘Honey Boy’ Opens Sweet And Strong, ‘The Kingmaker’ Debuts Solid – Specialty Box Office

Dino-Ray Ramos

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UPDATED with adjusted grosses and actuals. In its first week, the Abramorama docu The All-Americans had a soft opening on three screens, grossing $7,895 at the specialty box office.

American Dharma‘s actual gross for its second weekend was $7,152 bringing its cume to $17,421 while NatGeo released its grosses for The Cave which earned $4,128 in its fourth weekend to bring its cume to $44,053.

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Other actuals include Honey Boy, which earned $301,065 on its first weekend with a per-screen average of $75,266. The Kingmaker debuted at $19,523 with a per-screen average of $9,762.

PREVIOUS: After its buzzy festival run, Shia LaBeouf’s semi-autobiographical Honey Boy finally debuted this weekend with four runs in Los Angeles and New York to strong and confident numbers at the specialty box office. Alma Har’el’s directorial narrative feature debut is honing in on an estimated $288,824, with a per-screen average of $72,206.

The Amazon Studios pic took the #1 spot in all venues and premiered as one of the top five per-theater average for the year. It played to sold-out shows, and in Los Angeles, one showing at the Arclight Hollywood moved to the larger Dome theater due to popular demand.

“This weekend’s tremendous per-screen opening is very encouraging and shows Honey Boy has the legs and potential to find a wider audience in the weeks to follow,” said Julie Rapaport, Co-Head of Movies, Amazon Studios. “The awards buzz garnered out of our successful TIFF screenings has also furthered the positive word of mouth, which we hope will continue to push audiences to seek out the film as we steadily roll out over the next month.”

Honey Boy, which was written by and features LaBeouf starring as his father, is currently Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 93%. With that and its weekend opening momentum, Amazon hopes the film will crossover from the arthouse space as it plans its rollout. The film will open its hive to the top 15 markets before a nationwide expansion timed to the announcement of Golden Globe nominations.

The film has already earned LaBeouf the Breakthrough Screenwriter Award at the Hollywood Film Awards, and his co-star Noah Jupe was nominated for Breakthrough Actor at the Gotham Awards. To build an even stronger foundation as an awards season contender, Har’el, LaBeouf, Jupe and co-star Byron Bowers will participate in in-theater Q&As, as well as awards season activities.

Also coming in strong on its opening weekend, was the Showtime Documentary The Kingmaker, directed by celebrated documentarian Lauren Greenfield. The feature which was theatrically distributed by Greenwich Entertainment opened at the Quad Cinema in New York and the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles, and was crowned with an estimated weekend gross of $23,600. The docu, which is a timely look at former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos and her family’s potential return to power, played to strong festival runs and is garnering critical acclaim. It is set to expand to Chicago, Honolulu, and Philadelphia next weekend, with additional markets, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C., opening throughout November and December.

Other notable specialty debuts include the Hindi film Bala, which ran in 82 markets and opened to an estimated $801,000, with decent runs in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. The Mandarin-language film Better Days from Well Go USA opened strong on 70 screens, earning an estimated $1,034,341. The film plans to expand to an additional 25-30 screens in its second weekend out.

Parasite continues to succeed, as it has latched on to the specialty box office and thrives. Now in its fifth week, Bong Joon Ho’s dark comedy has expanded to 603 runs in 125 markets, earning an estimated $2,552,000 for the weekend, which brings its estimated domestic cume to $11,278,977, making it this year’s highest-grossing foreign film to date. The Korean language film has become the must-see movie of the year and continues to gain traction in its markets, maintaining decent runs in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, DC, Seattle, Portland, Austin and other locations. With word of mouth and critical acclaim, the film continues to sustain and its momentum will potentially reach $20M at the domestic box office as it grows stronger in the awards season space.

Taika Waititi’s World War II satire Jojo Rabbit also continues its strong performance at the box office, as it gains more and more shine as an awards season contender. Now in 802 theaters, we are hearing that the film had strong openings in Orlando, Tampa, and Honolulu, and continues to deliver in Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Minneapolis, and New York City. The film earned an estimated weekend gross of $3,878,000 as it knocks on the door of a $10 million cume domestic box office gross.

A24’s black and white fantastical fever dream The Lighthouse performed fairly well in its fourth weekend. Down to 683 screens, the nautical thriller earned an estimated $900,825 for the weekend. We are hearing that the pic is still sailing, with decent runs in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Austin, along with a handful of arthouse runs. It looks like the Robert Eggers-directed pic might have reached its peak, but will continue to shine as much as it can until its bulb burns out.

NEW RELEASES

The All-Americans (Abramorama) – Week 1 [3 Screens] Weekend $7,805, Average $2,602

Bala (Independent Indian) – Week 1 [200 Theaters] Weekend $801,000, Average $4,005

Better Days (Well Go USA) – Week 1 [70 Theaters] Weekend $1,034,341, Average $14,776

Honey Boy (Amazon Studios) – Week 1 [4 Theaters] Weekend $301,065, Average $75,266

My Dear Liar (CMC Pictures) – Week 1 [40 Theaters] Weekend $35,326, Average $883

The Kingmaker (Greenwich Entertainment) – Week 1 [2 Theaters] Weekend $19,523, Average $9,762

Unforgettable (Viva Films) – Week 1 [35 Theaters] Weekend $55,680, Average $1,591

RETURNING/SECOND WEEKEND

American Dharma (Utopia) – Week 2 [3 Theaters] Weekend $7,152, Average $2,384, Cume $17,421

HOLDOVERS/THIRD+ WEEKEND

The Cave (National Geographic) – Week 4 [4 Screens] Weekend $4,128, Average $1,032, Cume $44,053

Frankie (Sony Pictures Classics) – Week 3 [22 Screens] Weekend $24,227, Average $1,101, Cume $86,094

Housefull 4 (Fox Star Studios) – Week 3 [85 Theaters] Weekend $122,391, Average $1,440, Cume $2,010,000

Jay & Silent Bob Reboot (Saban Films) – Week 4 [15 Screens] Weekend $278,754, Average $18,584, Cume $2,338,958

Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight) – Week 4 [802 Theaters] Weekend $3,878,000, Average $4,835, Cume $9,053,000

Judy (Roadside Attractions) – Week 7 [246 Screens] Weekend $222,950, Average $906, Cume $23,494,658

The Lighthouse (A24) – Week 4 [683 Screens] Weekend $900,825, Average $1,319, Cume $8,897,456

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (Greenwich Enterainment/1091) – Week 10 [59 Theaters], Weekend $55,446, Average $940, Cume $4,084,140

No Safe Spaces (Atlas) – Week 3 [37 Screens] Weekend $65,000, Average $1,800, Cume $182,140

Pain and Glory (Sony Pictures Classics) – Week 6 [266 Screens] Weekend $397,722, Average $1,495, Cume $2,693,791

Parasite (Neon) – Week 5 [603 Screens] Weekend $2,552,000, Average $4,232, Cume $11,278,977

The Peanut Butter Falcon (Roadside Attractions/Armory Films) – Week 13 [122 Screens] Weekend $50,555, Average $616, Cume $20,331,311

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