Parasite's loot and other Palme d'Or winner returns

Let's marvel again at the success of Parasite in US release, but this time in the context of Palme d'Or winners. Parasite is just one notch away from being the 10 highest grossing Cannes winner of all time (at least as far as contemporary box office reporting goes). It's already the most successful Palme d'Or winner of all time among the non-English language winners. 

Box office figures aren't readily available before the 1970s so we started in 1970 -- there are a few winners since then with no US box office results which means they either weren't ever released in the US or were somehow not reported. It's also worth noting that these numbers are not adjusted for inflation so we're assuming that either MASH or Apocalypse Now which bookended the 1970s would actually top the list as the highest grossing Palme d'Or winner ever. Figures are only domestic (USA) totals.

TOP GROSSING PALME D'OR WINNERS IN THE U.S.
figures as of January 26th, 2020

1. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) $119.1
2. Pulp Fiction (1994) $107.9
3. Apocalypse Now (1979) $83.4
4. MASH (1970) $81.6...

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Ford v Ferrarri wins the weekend box office race

Weekend Box Office [UPDATED WITH ACTUALS] Nov 15th-17th 🔺 = New or Expanding / ★ = Recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / SPECIALTY TITLES
FORD V FERRARI	PARASITE
1 🔺  FORD V FERRARI  $31.4 *new* REVIEW, PODCAST ★	1 🔺 PARASITE $1.8 on 620 screens (cum. $14.4) PODCAST, CLASS THEMES, BONG JOON HO ★
2 MIDWAY $8.5 (cum. $34.8) *	2 🔺 BETTER DAYS $328k on 88 screens (cum. $1.6)

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"Midway" tops the weekend while "Honey Boy" opens strong

Weekend Box Office [ESTIMATES] Nov 8th-10th 🔺 = New or Expanding / ★ = Recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / SPECIALTY TITLES
MIDWAY	HONEY BOY
1 🔺  MIDWAY  $17.5 *new*	1 🔺 PARASITE $2.5 on 603 screens (cum. $11.2) PODCAST ★
2 🔺 DOCTOR SLEEP $14.1 *new*	2 🔺 PAIN & GLORY $397K on 266 screens (cum. $2.6)  REVIEW, PODCAST ★
3 🔺 PLAYING WITH FIRE $12.8 *new*	3 🔺 HONEY BOY  $288k on 4 screens *new* ★
4 🔺 LAST CHRISTMAS  $11.6 *new* REVIEW	4 HOUSEFULL 4 $124k on 85 screens (cum. $2)
5 TERMINATOR DARK FATE $8.4 (cum. $85.2) PODCAST	5 LINDA RONSTADT... $43k on 59 screens (cum. $4) REVIEW

In a not quite as usual as you'd expect occurence all four new wide releases, were lined up 1-2-3-4 with no interruption from holdovers at the top of the box office. None of them really lit the box office on fire but Roland Emmerich's latest action epic did decent business up top. For platform titles, the big story was Honey Boy's surprisingly robust debut, earning $75k per theater despite being a very personal film and niche topic. A strong opening was by no means a sure thing so well done Shia Labeouf and Amazon!

Meanwhile Parasite continues to be all the rage (it's a rare foreign-language film that hits 8 figures in the US marketplace) while Pain & Glory is a steady performer. Jojo Rabbit expanded very well with a nearly $5,000 per screen average as it moved into just-barely wide release at 802 theaters with a $4 million or so weekend; all three of those titles are moving confidently into awards season. What did you see this weekend?

What did you see this weekend?

Weekend Box Office [ESTIMATES] Nov 1st-3rd 🔺 = New or Expanding / ★ = Recommended
W I D E	PLATFORM / SPECIALTY TITLES
1 🔺  TERMINATOR DARK FATE  $29 *new*	1 🔺 PARASITE $2.6 on 461 screens (cum. $7.5) PODCAST ★
2 JOKER $13.9 (cum. $299.6) REVIEW	2 🔺 JOJO RABBIT $2.4 on 256 screens (cum. $4.2) TIFF WINNER ★
3 MALEFICENT 2 $12.1 (cum. $84.3)	3  HOUSEFULL 4 $463k on 315 screens (cum. $1.7)
4 🔺 HARRIET  $12 *new*	4 PAIN AND GLORY $348k on 111 screens (cum. $2.1) REVIEW, PODCAST ★
5 ADDAMS FAMILY $8.4 (cum. $85.2)	5 LINDA RONSTADT... $90k on 94 screens (cum. $3.9) REVIEW

The latest in a long line of attempts to keep the Terminator franchise going opened below expectations and will have trouble breaking even given its enormous budget. They shouldn't have messed with the mandatory ass shot! In other news Harriet performed above expectations which bodes well for Cynthia Erivo's Oscar campaign which had been losing some lustre after decent but hardly inspiring reviews for the film. Parasite continues to be a smash hit in limited release and is in a ton of markets now on 461 screens.  It'll be the second highest-grossing subtitled picture this year within a week (with only The Farewell left to conquer)

What did you see this weekend?

What did you see over the weekend? We skipped new releases to see And Then We Danced (Sweden's soulful deserving Oscar submission) a second time and to catch up with Gaspar Noe's insane dance/drug film Climax on Amazon Prime. The full box office chart after the jump with a few notes...

Weekend Box Office October 25-27 (ACTUALS) 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
WIDE RELEASE (800+ screens)	PLATFORM TITLES
1  MALEFICENT MISTRESS OF EVIL  $19.3 (cum. $66.2)	1  🔺 THE LIGHTHOUSE $3.2 on 586 screens (cum. $3.6) REVIEW ★

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