Box Office Recap: A Very Gay Weekend

Updated from Sunday:

In my previous post "The Gayest Weekend Ever At The Movies," I left out a movie that just happened to go on to to earn $47 million in its opening weekend and achieve the third biggest August opening in history! That movie, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," stars, of course, Will Ferrell as the title character but is also a mainstream film that features a gay villain who isn't tragic. He is an arrogant gay French race car driver and powerful champion named Jean Girard portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen (better known as Ali G). The racing nemesis of Ferrell's characfer does not fall into any limp-wristed stereotypes, is not de-sexualized, nor is he assaulted or ridiculed in any way.

Jean is brought in to dethrone the "All-American" and unbeatable Ricky Bobby. In his first scene, the sophisticated and wealthy racer boldly displays his sexuality in a beer bar by introducing his "husband" (Andy Richter) to the other racers and crew members. He then gives hubby a big smooch for all to see followed by a little squeeze of his man's rear end.

I missed the screening of "Talladega" but will catch up with it soon. Did manage to take in "The Night Listener" in Palm Springs this weekend and thought Robin Williams and Bobby Cannavale played a very believable and complicated gay couple in the film. I thought the performances were solid (including the amazing Toni Collette) but left the theater feeling a bit dissatisfied, like "So what?" I didn't really care of the kid existed or not.

At any rate, "Night Listener" did manage to debut in the top 10 despite playing in only 1,367 theaters. It grossed an estimated $3.55 million. Meanwhile, the Sony Pictures Classic title "Quinceanera," opened in just eight locations and earned $96,900. That movie, the winner of the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival this year, features Jesse Garcia as a tough young cholo kicked out of his parents' home because he is gay. He is taken in by his great-uncle and becomes involved with his gay landlords.

Drawing an astounding per-screen average ($25,169 - higher than any film in release) was the sensational "Little Miss Sunshine." This gem from Fox Searchlight expanded from seven to 58 theaters in its second weekend and grosses and will go into wide release Aug. 18. "Sunshine," featuring Steve Carell as a gay academic recovering from a suicide attempt, has grossed $2.2 million to date.

Here are the box office results of other gay themed movies in the marketplace last weekend that were reported Monday: the outrageous comedy "Another Gay Movie" did quite well in limited release with a weekend gross of $50,069. Playing in five theaters, "Gay Movie" had a hefty per-screen average of $10,013 and has grossed $101,016 to date.
"Shock to the System," starring Chad Allen, did not make much of an impact in the two theaters it played in with a total gross of just $2,750. The film simulteously debuted on the Here! TV pay channel so should get plenty of sampling that way.

And finally, "The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life Of Ethan Green," a very fuinny movie that I thought was a cut above a lot of the gay comedies out there, is fading fast. Down to just four theaters, "Ethan" took in just $5,016 for a total gross to date of $124,826.