“Place Beyond Pines” beats “To the Wonder” at indie box office

PanARMENIAN.Net - Magnolia Pictures rolled out Terence Malick's "To the Wonder" in 17 theaters this weekend and brought in $130,000, but the strong nationwide expansion of "Place Beyond the Pines" stole some of its thunder, TheWrap said.

The $7,647 per-screen average was just OK for "To the Wonder," the tale of an American (Ben Affleck) traveling in Europe who meets and falls in love with a Ukrainian divorcée (Olga Kurylenko), who is raising her 10-year-old daughter Tatiana in Paris.

"To the Wonder" also debuted on VOD Friday. It's early to judge its box office prospects, but few are expecting it to match the $36.4 million of Malick's top-grossing film, "The Thin Red Line."

“Place Beyond the Pines” kept its box-office motor running in its nationwide expansion, breaking into the top ten by taking in an estimated $4 million from 514 theaters.

That’s up from 30 theaters last week, and the Ryan Gosling-Brad Cooper drama averaged $7,937 per screen, best of any film in wide release except the top movie “42.”

Focus Features' "Place Beyond the Pines" tells the story of a motorcycle stunt rider-turned-bank robber who turns to crime to try to feed his family. Derek Cianfrance directs from a script he wrote with Ben Coccio and Darius Marder. Gosling stars in the film, and Cooper plays a hotshot cop on the biker's tail. Cianfrance also collaborated with Gosling on 2010's “Blue Valentine.”