Arthouse Audit: 'Babies' Drops
It was a quiet weekend for limited releases, with prior champ Babies remaining at the top despite experiencing a steep fall. Older releases City Island, The Secret in Their Eyes, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo continued to hold well, while Hawaii-set biopic Princess Kaiulani was the only new release able to make any waves at the box office.

Without Mother's Day audiences, Babies dropped a steep 54 percent to $995,660 at 543 locations. Still, this made the documentary the busiest limited release, ranking 12th place overall this weekend. In ten days, Babies has gathered $3.9 million, and is on pace to become one of the Top 20 highest-grossing documentaries ever.

City Island fell 28 percent to $442,158 at 253 venues, placing it second among limited releases. Through its ninth weekend, the comedy has earned $3.6 million, an impressive number considering distributor Anchor Bay's previous top grossing movie, 2009's Spread, only made $250,618.

The Secret in Their Eyes continued to hold firm again, down just four percent to $368,338, though it added 22 sites for a total of 103. Through its fifth weekend, the Oscar winner has accumulated $2.1 million. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had its largest decline yet, off 20 percent to $327,304 at 178 sites. With a $5.8 million total, Dragon Tattoo should be able to pass Tell No One ($6.2 million) sometime next week to become distributor Music Box's highest-grossing movie ever.

Please Give added 23 locations for a total of 49, but was only up three percent to $248,172 for a total of $735,467. Exit Through the Gift Shop also expanded, jumping from 31 to 45 theaters, and it grew 12 percent to $215,334. Through its fifth weekend, the documentary has made $1.27 million.

Princess Kaiulani had the best limited debut this weekend, grossing $186,980 at 33 theaters for a modest per theater average of $5,666. The Roadside Attractions release tells the true story of a Hawaiian princess during the American-led overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii during the late nineteenth century. Due to playing at only one site, IFC's Daddy Longlegs had the biggest per theater average of any new limited release with $8,323. Looking for Eric, directed by Ken Loach, debuted to a paltry $6,743 at two theaters. Documentary Bettle Queen Conquers Tokyo has made $10,068 since it opened in one theater Wednesday, with $6,498 coming this weekend. Finally, The Living Wake a comedy starring Zombieland's Jesse Eisenberg, could only muster $3,821 from one venue.

Last Arthouse Audit

Barely-Limited 'Babies' Burps Loudest


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