‘Damsels’ opening weekend

A little belated, sorry, but thanks to Dolly McElmore in the comments here are Indiewire’s thoughts on Damsels in Distress’s opening weekend:

$58,589 in 4 theaters; PSA (per screen average): $14,647

Benefiting from some of the best press coverage for an indie release this year, these grosses in four great NY/LA theaters put Damsels in Distress at the higher end of 2012 platform releases. The consistently favorable and thoughtful reviews emphasized the film’s quirky and risky tone, preparing audiences for something completely different from the standard young-adult character film. Stillman’s first films two decades ago opened (with much lower ticket prices) to higher grosses, but that was during an era far more receptive to idiosyncratic observations with far less competition in any given week.

What it means: These grosses seem solid; combined with SPC’s usual guaranteed access to top theaters around the country, they will give the film momentum and a chance to be a real success (particularly with its reported $3 million production cost). WOM (word of mouth) is going to be decisive here even more than usual – this is not an ordinary comedy, but somewhat provocative (even irritating to some) while still entertaining. In other words, not an easy film to describe in the one-phrase manner so much of film marketing depends on, which means that at this point its future is more in the hands of those who have seen it and recommend it.

Fingers crossed… I’m not sure how to tell how many cinemas the movie’s on this weekend, although it seems to be more than last. According to Google Movies this Friday it’s still only on at two in New York but will be on at five in Los Angeles and two in Chicago… (those links won’t work right by Thursday, sorry).

Landmark Theatres list the film as “coming soon” to Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, San Diego, Seattle, St Louis and Washington DC.

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