"Igby Goes Down was released only in New York and L.A.," MGM's Eric Lomis said Sunday morning. The film's average of nearly $32,000 per theater, he added, "is as good as it gets with these kinds of films. The critics and the audiences are all responding to it. That will be expanding this week, probably to about 100 theaters in 20 cities.
"We are equally as thrilled with Igby (as with the chart-topping launch of Barbershop) although obviously it's a much smaller scale. But it's a huge success for that film and that director, as well. Burr Steers directed it. It's a really good movie. He gave us a strong film and audiences love it."
Sony Pictures Classics' R rated Chinese drama Quitting opened to a slow ESTIMATED $8,000 at 5 theaters ($1,664 per theater).
Directed by Zhang Yang, it was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.
SNEAK PREVIEWS
There were no national sneak previews this weekend.
EXPANSIONS
On the expansion front this weekend Focus Features' romantic drama Possession added a few more theaters in its fifth week with a quiet ESTIMATED $0.7 million (-24%) at 619 theaters (+3 theaters; $1,195 per theater). Its cume is approximately $9.0 million.
Directed by Neil LaBute, it stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart.
Paramount Classics' PG rated German romantic comedy Mostly Martha went wider in its fifth week with a calm ESTIMATED $0.4 million at 101 theaters (+31 theaters; $3,940 per theater). Its cume is approximately $1.7 million.
Written and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck, it stars Martina Gedeck.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
Key films -- those grossing more than $500,000 -- took in approximately $77.61 million for the weekend, up about 30.44 percent from last year when they totaled $59.5 million.
Key films were up about 15.75 percent from the previous weekend this year when they totaled $67.05 million.
Last year, Paramount's opening week of Hardball was first with $9.39 million at 2,137 theaters ($4,392 per theater); and Sony's opening week of The Glass House was second with $5.74 million at 1,591 theaters ($3,607 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $15.1 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $32.0 million.