wind up with higher total grosses than:
Rock of Ages
That's My Boy
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
Katy Perry: Part of Me
maybe The Watch
Chernobyl Diaries+ People Like Us+ Seeking a Friend (all of which had higher theater counts than either of these ever reached.)
Pretty insane, yay indie film!

I wonder how far Bernie could have gone if handled by Fox Searchlight or Focus Features.

I think the resurgence of the "hit indie film" the past two summers has been awesome. It seemed like we were struggling for a while even pretty recently...I think The Kids Are All Right and Cyrus were the top indies of summer 2010 and they only did $20M and $7M, respectively.

Maybe The Watch? Michael A, The Watch won't even reach 40M (BETH and MK has already passed that mark). It would need a 3.21 multipler to reach that mark. Very unlikely especially with Bourne, Campaign, and Expendables coming out.

It's not a fair comparison.

The two independents you chose were great movies, while all but one* of the mainstream movies were dogs.

Try making it a fair fight next time.


{*Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was ridiculously under-appreciated - - but it's greatness will be recognized in the fullness of time.}

It might be said The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a far easier sell than Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, lol.

Not maybe The Watch, DEFINITELY more than The Watch. The Watch probably won't break $40 million.

indeed it could be, yet the latter cost 7 times the former and was put in 2 and a half times as many theaters (as Marigold ever reached.)
You're all right about the watch I don't know what I was thinking there.
So anyway, who the hell would've predicted that on may 1st?
I also find it interesting that it's the 8th of august and we still have little idea which of these two films will gross higher. Exotic should settle around 46.5-47.5m right? Moonrise could get very close to 50m, maybe even exceed it still if it keeps dropping sub 20% despite losing theaters I few more may choose to hold on.
My theater had disappointing results OW for Moonrise and prior to last weekend decided to drop it today (wednesday) with HS coming out and taking the seniors. Over the weekend it's sales were near double the prior weekend and they have now chosen to get it back on friday, lol.

I think sometimes classifying a film as "indie" is a bit subjective. The amount of big name actors alone in Moonrise Kingdom makes it hard for me to view it as an indie film.

It's still an impressive run though considering it never showed in over 1000 theaters at one time.

Have you seen the film? The big name actors simply compensate for the strong indie quirks. I'm not saying it's Antichrist, but it's hardly an accessible, mainstream product.

Yes I've seen Moonrise Kingdom. I guess I like Wes Anderson too much to think his movies aren't for everyone.

Maybe, but on the other hand The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is actually extremely accessible. It's the epitome of a feel-good film.