With the Golden Globes tonight, the first weekend of the 2019 indie box office was about awards contenders making in-roads with audiences. The studio making the biggest charge is Annapurna, as “If Beale Street Could Talk” expanded to 335 screens, while “Destroyer” starring Nicole Kidman held the top per screen average of the weekend.
“Beale Street,” which is nominated for three Golden Globes, added $1.8 million for a total of $4.4 million, with plans to expand to 1,000+ screens later this month. “Destroyer,” which is still on six screens in Los Angeles and New York, scored an average of $18,335 for a weekend total of $110,000 and a cume of $260,000.
Another release in its second weekend is Focus Features’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic “On the Basis of Sex,” which expanded to 112 screens and added $1.67 million for a total of $3.76 million, earning the second-best per screen average of the weekend with $14,920. The third-best average belonged to Sony Pictures Classics’ “Stan & Ollie,” which made $96,173 from six screens for a PSA of $12,022 and a total of $243,000.
Focus’ “Mary Queen of Scots” is continuing to perform well after a slow start, adding $2.2 million from 1052 screens for a total of $13.4 million after five weekends. Fox Searchlight’s “The Favourite” remains the top grosser of this year’s awards field, bringing in just under $2 million this weekend from 771 screens for a total of $19.3 million with another expansion to 1,000+ screens still to come.
Finally, Amazon Studios’ “Cold War” saw its average increase in its third weekend with $93,000 grossed, picking up its per screen average to $15,500 and its total to $274,000.