Specialty Box Office: ‘Mandela,’ ‘Philomena’ Holiday Pushes Pay Off For TWC; Spike Lee’s ‘Oldboy’ Bombs

Specialty Box Office: ‘Mandela,’ ‘Philomena’ Holiday Pushes Pay Off For TWC; Spike Lee’s ‘Oldboy’ Bombs

Thanksgiving weekend yielded a box office bounty for The Weinstein Co. and a turkey for FilmDistrict and Spike Lee in a holiday weekend with slim competition from indie comers. TWC made a pair of bold moves, opening awards hopeful Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom on 4 screens to a strong $ 100,306 take averaging $ 25,076 per screen; the drama starring Idris Elba as South African president Nelson Mandela built up w ord of mouth on the fest circuit at Toronto, Mill Valley, The Hamptons, Chicago, and AFI Fest. TWC also seized the chance to bump last week’s Judi Dench-starrer Philomena from 4 theaters to 835 theaters and the pic subsequently broke into the Top 10 with a $ 4,538 average and a $ 3.789M weekend. Dench stars alongside Steve Coogan in the true story of a woman searching for the son she gave up for adoption decades earlier, a heartwarming family tale that was primed for holiday viewing. Alas, Thanksgiving weekend wasn’t quite so kind to FilmDistrict’s Oldboy which in its own bloody way is also about the ties that bind. Spike Lee‘s remake of the brutally violent Korean thriller from Park Chan-Wook, stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharlto Copley in a vengeance saga with extreme twists and turns not for the faint of heart. It took in a paltry $ 850K on the weekend, averaging $ 1,458 in 583 theaters. More to come.

*Numbers below are 3-day estimates

NEW

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (The Weinstein Company) NEW [4 Theaters] Weekend $ 100,306, Average $ 25,076
Oldboy (FilmDistrict) NEW [583 Theaters] Weekend $ 850,000, Average $ 1,458

Returning / 2nd Weekend
Philomena (The Weinstein Company) Week 2 [835 Theaters] Weekend $ 3.789M, Average $ 4,538, Cume $ 4.754M

Holdovers / 3RD+ Weekends

The Christmas Candle (Echolight Studios) Week 3 (352 Theaters) Weekend $ 405.6K, Average $ 1,153, Cume $ 1.63M
Nebraska (Paramount Vantage) Week 3 (102 Theaters) Weekend $ 728K, Average $ 7,137, Cume 1.476M
Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features) Week 5 [696 Theaters] Weekend $ 2,598,902, Average $ 3,734, Cume $ 10,295,054
All Is Lost (Roadside/Lionsgate) Week 7 [51 Theaters] Weekend $ 196,700, Average $ 3,857, Cume $ 5,270,562
12 Years A Slave (Fox Searchlight) Week 7 [1,165 Theaters] Weekend $ 2.3M, Average $ 1,974, Cume $ 33,142,146
Enough Said (Fox Searchlight) Week 11 [121 Theaters] Weekend $ 126K, Average $ 1,041, Cume $ 17,203,128

Deadline.com