Box Office: “Cyrus” Soars To Summer Highs As Marketplace Heats Up
by Peter Knegt (June 20, 2010)
A scene from Jay and Mark Duplass’ "Cyrus." Image courtesy of Fox Searchlight.
It looks like summer 2010 might have its first full-on specialty film breakout (it also seems to have quite the studio blockbuster in “Toy Story 3” ). According to estimates provided by Rentrak earlier this afternoon, Fox Searchlight release “Cyrus” soared to a $180,289 gross from just 4 theaters. That gave it a $45,072 average - just a few hundred dollars less than 2010’s current per-theater-average record holder, Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer” (which averaged $45,752 from 4 theaters back in February).
“Cyrus” is a largely improvised dark comedy that follows John (John C. Reilly), a down-on-his luck film editor whose life takes a significant and strange turn when he becomes romantically involved with Molly (Marisa Tomei), a woman with an unusually close bond with her 21-year old son Cyrus (Jonah Hill). It marks a significant expansion into the mainstream for brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, whose previously work included ultra low budget films “The Puffy Chair” and “Baghead.”
“Were thrilled to have made this films with the Duplass Brothers,” Stephen Gilula, Co-President of Fox Searchlight, told indieWIRE this afternoon. “To give them a platform to bring their aesthetics and vision to the broader world is very exciting. It’s very gratifying for us at Fox Searchlight to take new or rising talet and give them the opportunity to expand their horizons.”
Gilula said the film played exceptionally across the board, with the Arclight Hollywood in Los Angeles the film’s standout engagement. The audience skewed slightly more male than female (though not by much), and was generally made up of folks aged 30+. “Cyrus” will expand to six new markets next Friday - Boston, Chicago, Austin, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington, D.C. - and Gilula said the goal is to have the film at 300-400 theaters by its fifth week. Though Searchlight is prepared to go wider than that if the momentum and audience response dictates it. So far, these numbers (and a healthy 34% Friday to Saturday increase) suggest that could very well be the case.
Article courtesy of Indiewire
