While “The Disaster Artist” moved into wide release to take a spot in this weekend’s top five at the box office, NEON and 30WEST sent their darkly comedic biopic “I, Tonya” into theaters for a four-screen release and had the highest per screen average of the weekend with $61,400 for a $245,402 total.
“I, Tonya” stars Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding, the figure skater whose career came to an ignoble end when her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), hired a man to break the leg of her rival, Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver), at the National Figure Skating Championships in 1994. Allison Janney also stars as Harding’s abusive mother, LaVona Fay Golden. Craig Gillespie directed from a script by Steven Rogers, and the film has a 90 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Classics’ “Call Me by Your Name” remains slow to expand, growing to just nine screens in its third weekend. Regardless, it continues to be a major draw, passing the $1 million mark earlier this week and making $291,101 for a PSA of $32,345 and a cume of $1.37 million.
Also passing the $1 million mark are Focus Features’ “Darkest Hour” and Fox Searchlight’s “The Shape of Water.” “Darkest Hour” expanded to 53 theaters in its third weekend and made $777,000 for a PSA of $14,664 and a total of $1.23 million. “The Shape of Water” expanded to 41 screens and made $1.1 million for a PSA of $26,700 and a cume of $1.3 million.
Oscar contenders “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “Lady Bird” kept performing well, with “Three Billboards” adding $2.8 million to bring its total to $18.3 million, while “Lady Bird” added $3.4 million to bring its total to $22.1 million. Finally, among holdovers, FilmRise’s “My Friend Dahmer” crossed the $1 million mark in its sixth weekend with $130,000 from 110 screens to bring its cume to $1.13 million, and A24’s “The Florida Project” crossed the $5 million mark with $96,177 from 101 screens.