The new “Pulling Strings” became the second big Spanish-language hit to crack America’s top ten box office this weekend.
Credit: Pantelion
Two monster specialty hits from the same country isn’t really a trend, but like “Instructions Not Included,” the new Mexican film “Pulling Strings” pulled in a boffo numbers this weekend, according to Indiewire. Both films are Spanish-language comedies that proved there’s an audience in North America that’s been traditionally ignored.
Directed by Jamie Camil, the film — about the romance between a Mexican mariachi and an American embassy employee — pulled in $2.5 million, enough for it to crack the national top ten. That’s not “Instructions Not Included” numbers. (That film’s cume now stands at $41,266,096.) But its per screen average — $6,460 — is nothing to sneeze at.
Also doing strong business, and surprisingly so, was “A Touch of Sin,” the latest from Chinese minimalist Jia Zhang-ke, who usually does fiction-documentary hybrids, which are critical of his nation, like “Still Life” and “24 City.” “Sin” is more traditional, but still very much a Jia film. It grossed $24,000 from two theaters for the best average this weekend of a film that wasn’t “Gravity.”
As for other newbies, the lesbian dramedy “Concussion” racked up $8,216 from a single screen. The Adam Scott-starring “A.C.O.D.” did $20,047 from three theaters for a $6,682 average.
For holdovers, “Enough Said” — the rom-com with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini, in one of his last performances — also cracked the overall top ten. Expanding to 437 theaters, it made $2.1 million for a $4,920 average. Its total stands at $5.3 million, with no end in sight.
