Ewan McGregor in The Ghost Writer (top); Hichem Jacoubi, Tahar Rahim in A Prophet (bottom)
Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island grossed (or rather, is grossing) millions this weekend. The same goes for Cop Out, The Crazies, Avatar and its $700 million, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and Valentine's Day. But forget those Hollywood flicks for a moment.
In fact, if you look at the box-office figures a different way, the top success stories of the weekend belong to two "small" movies: Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet.
After adding 41 screens, The Ghost Writer grossed a remarkable $870K, landing at #17 for the weekend according to Box Office Mojo. Its per screen average was a fantastic $20,233, the highest among the top 50 films. Polanski's crime thriller, which earned the director a Silver Bear in Berlin and has been enthusiastically received by critics, stars Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, and Kim Cattrall.
A Prophet, winner of nine Cesar Awards last night including Best Picture and Best Director, grossed $170K at 9 screens. Its $18,889 per-screen average was right behind that of The Ghost Writer (though in considerably fewer theaters; in other words, The Ghost Writer's box-office feat was more impressive.) Starring Best Actor Cesar winner Tahar Rahim as a young hoodlum who must fight for survival inside the walls of a French prison, A Prophet won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and is considered one of the best 2009 movies made anywhere on the planet.
Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, along with The Prophet a Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee, grossed $168K at 82 theaters. Total to date: $1.5 million. Meanwhile, Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan, starring Bollywood idol Shahrukh Khan, took in $254K for a total of $3.6 million. It's reportedly become Khan's biggest box-office hit ever in North America, barely surpassing his 2007 vehicle Om Shanti Om, which grossed $3.59 million.
And finally, Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces, starring Penelope Cruz, is still earning a little change here and there. The classy melodrama grossed $38K this weekend for a total of $4.6 million.
Photos: The Ghost Writer (Guy Farrandis / Summit Entertainment); A Prophet (Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics)
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