Arthouse Audit: 'Company Men' Can't Beat 'Blue Valentine'
In a battle between two Weinstein Company releases, Blue Valentine held off unimpressive competition from newcomer The Company Men to retain the top spot among limited releases for the third-straight weekend.

Blue Valentine fell 37 percent to $877,815 from 242 locations. Its per-theater average of $3,627 was its lowest thus far, and it hasn't made a great case for a nationwide expansion. Since opening in late December, the Ryan Gosling-Michelle Williams drama has earned $4.46 million.

The Company Men opened to $647,797 and averaged a middling $6,111 at its 106 locations. While its odd release pattern makes it tough to find direct comparisons, it did trump The Weinstein Company's Cassandra's Dream, which opened at one more location on the same weekend in 2008 and made just $361,901. Including its Oscar-qualifying run at the end of December, the Ben Affleck-Tommy Lee Jones drama has grossed $690,934.

After a respectable opening from Yamla Pagla Deewana last weekend, Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) returned the Bollywood genre to its recent state of mediocrity. The drama debuted to $365,297 at 78 locations, which translated to a poor $4,683 average.

In its second weekend, The Heart Specialist fell 47 percent to $251,509 for a total of $922,637. That decline wasn't bad, considering the movie lost nearly one-third of its theaters and once again faced strong competition from the NFL playoffs.

Another Year added 32 locations for a total of 45 and was up 86 percent to $208,366. The Mike Leigh drama has so far earned $714,387.

Below fellow limited releases Yamla Pagla Deewana, Somewhere and Rabbit Hole, Barney's Version increased its theater count to 16 and improved 119 percent to $143,010. The comedy-drama, which stars recent Golden Globe winner Paul Giamatti, averaged a decent $8,938 and has thus far made $285,213.

South Korean erotic thriller The Housemaid debuted to $16,670 at two locations, while documentary The Woodmans earned $5,874 at one venue for a five-day total of $9,560. Japanese animated sequel Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance also opened this weekend at 14 theaters, though results are not currently available.

Last Arthouse Audit

'Blue Valentine' Out-Pumps 'Heart Specialist'

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