Roadside Attractions’ A Great Awakening nabbed the no. 6 spot at the domestic box office with a solid $2.1 million on 1,289 screens. The Sight & Sound production in honor of America’s 250th anniversary ths year explores the friendship between firebrand preacher George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin, and how Franklin’s resulting recognition of the role of faith changed history.
The film stars John Paul Sneed as Franklin, Jonathan Blair as Whitefield and is directed and co-written by Joshua Enck.
“We are very excited about Roadside’s first partnership with producers Sight & Sound” on A Great Awakening, said Roadside co-president Howard Cohen. “The film showed in our exit polls that it brought in both faith-based viewers and history buffs.” It also received an A+ Cinemascore, boding well for play in the weeks to come.
CinemaScore data showed the audience at 79% 35+ and 57% female. Some 66% were attracted by the subject matter.
Top DMA was Harrisburg/Lancaster/York Pa. where Sight & Sound’s 2,000-seat theater (in Lancaster) routinely sells out a dozen shows a week for its faith-based live attractions. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York, Houston, Phoenix, Minneapolis and Atlanta were other top markets.
Leading theaters include Penn Cinema, Lititz PA; Regal Manor, Lancaster PA; Regal Downingtown, Downingtown PA; AMC Camp Hill, Camp Hill PA; Cinemark North Canton, North Canton OH; AMC Springfield, Springfield MO; Harkins Mountain Grove, Riverside CA; AMC Tyler, Tyler TX; Cinemark Tulsa, Tulsa OK; and Regal River Ridge, Lynchburg VA.
Noting Dhurandhar: The Revenge is on its third week in the top ten, at no. 8, with $1.85 million on 464 screens as it powered on to a $26.2 million cume. The Bollywood hit from Moviegoers Entertainment is the top grossing Indian film ever at the North American box office.
François Ozon’s Venice-premiering black-and-white adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Stranger from Music Box Films opened at Angelika Film Center and Film at Lincoln Center (top film at both venues) for a $20.5k gross. The $10.25k per screen average is the best opening for an Ozon film in more than a decade. It’s Music Box’s seventh outing with the director, a partnership that extends back to Potiche in 2011. Expands to LA, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and other markets next weekend. Chicago, Boston, Phoenix and others follow on April 17.
Holdovers: Greenwich Entertainment’s Fantasy Life jumped from one screen (NYC’s Angelika) to 215 theaters in week 2 for an estimated $322k gross and a cume of $361.5k. Written and directed by Matthew Shear, who stars alongside Amanda Peet, the comedy found audiences across art houses and commercial crossover multiplexes. Expands into new markets in the coming weeks.
Focus Features’ The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Aoocaloptimist grossed $271k from 635 theaters in its second weekend for an estimated cume to date at $1.2 million. Co-directed by Charlie Tyrell and Daniel Roher, the documentary is told through Roher’s eyes as a father-to-be on a quest to understand both the risks and the potential of the world his child is about to inherit.
IFC Films’ Forbidden Fruits grossed $271k on 500 screens in week 2 for a cume of $2 million.
Our Hero, Balthazar from Picturehouse added three Los Angeles locations in week 2 — Alamo DTLA, Los Feliz and AMC Burbank – for a $21k weekend and a $62.8k cume. Demos skewed young (20-35). with Asa Butterfield, Jaeden Martell, director Oscar Boyson and other cast and crew including producer Halsey attended several screenings.