Juno Continues to Thrive at the Box Office

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 6, 2008

Normally we would wait for John to drop The Reject Report on you late Sunday evening to find out what happened this weekend at the box office, but I feel it necessary to break in and talk about what I called “the best movie of the year by a mile.”

Of course I am referring to Juno, the Jason Reitman directed comedy that tackles the tough subject of teen pregnancy with a sharp-wit that has taken audiences by surprise. With Ellen Page in the lead, delivering the most impressive performance of the year, this film has jettisoned everyone involved into the Awards spotlight. This includes of course, stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody.

So what has all that buzz done for Fox Searchlight’s little movie that could? It opened on December 5 in 7 theaters, grossing $413,869 in its opening set. That $59,124 per theater average is pretty ridiculous, to say the least. On December 25, it made its wide release, grossing $6,817,494 in only 998 theaters, aptly defeating the much wider opening comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Sorry Judd.

Since then, it has rolled on to gross $41 million in those 998 theaters, quickly approaching 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine ($59.8 million) as the second highest grossing Fox Searchlight release of all-time.

So this weekend Juno doubled its theater count, jumping into 1,925 theaters, Juno’s bankroll has continued to grow — and for good reason. On Friday alone, Juno ($5.2 million) placed second behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets ($6.3 million). And as Box Office Analyst Steve Mason estimates over on /Film, this puts it on pace to clear $15 million for the weekend, which would put it past Little Miss Sunshine and a lot closer to Fox Searchlight’s biggest release of all-time, Sideways ($71.5 million).

I tell you that story to tell you this one — Go See Juno! I don’t know if my review was enough to get you excited to see this film, I don’t know what will. How about a clip from the film? Enjoy below.

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