"Marilyn", "Artist" "Method" have strong debuts (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Michelle Williams' portrayal of America's most iconic actress debuted strongly over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with the Weinstein Company's "My Week With Marilyn" opening to $2 million at 244 domestic locations.

In fact, it was a particularly strong play period for indie adult dramas in general, with Weinstein's "The Artist" also enjoying a big premiere, taking in $210,414 at four theaters -- a huge per-theater average of more than $52,600 per screen.

Sony Pictures Classics' "A Dangerous Method" had an even stronger opening, taking in $240,944 at four locations (per-screen average of $60,233).

Among holdovers, Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants" continued to dominate the indie box office, grossing $9.2 million from Wednesday through Sunday while expanding from 29 to 433 locations.

Sheila DeLoach, executive VP of distribution for Fox Searchlight, told TheWrap that the studio planned to expand the film's playdates by 200 on December 9. "But based on demand, we will be looking to move as many of those theaters as possible up to Friday, December 2," she said. "The audience has clearly crossed from older adults to an all-audience film for adults over 18."

The movie stars Clooney as a land baron who is selling off family property in Hawaii when his wife is very badly injured in a boating accident. Its per-screen average was $16,628 over the five-day weekend.

And "Marilyn," which is generating Oscar buzz for star Williams, had a solid per-screen average of $7,266 for the three days. The movie is about the interaction between Laurence Olivier and Monroe during production of "The Prince and the Showgirl."

Its numbers were strong enough to make "Marilyn" the No. 12 movie in the country.

"The way it played throughout the weekend is an indication that word of mouth is building on the film, and that's what we thought, which is why we opened early -- to get people talking," Erik Lomis, the Weinstein Company's head of distribution, told TheWrap.

The R-rated movie, directed by Simon Curtis, opened on 123 screens Wednesday and expanded to 244 screens on Friday.

"We're getting a more sophisticated audience, an older audience, and people are responding really well," Lomis said. He said that 71 percent of the audience was 35 and older and 89 percent was 25 and older. Women especially liked the movie -- 65 percent of its audience was female.

Lomis said the company will slowly increase the number of screens.

"We'll be judicious with it," he said. "We'll roll it out ... through the awards season."

He said the company will be "even more careful and more judicious" with the rollout of "The Artist."

Michel Hazanavicius directed the silent, black-and-white, PG-13 movie about a silent movie star whose career is threatened as talkies catch on.

"We couldn't be happier," Lomis said. "It's like the little engine that could, this movie -- it's a silent film, it's black-and-white and it's performing with the big boys. It's a great start."

Lomis said the movie's audience was evenly split between men and women, that 67 percent was 35 or older and that 91 percent was 25 or older.

"A Dangerous Method," directed by David Cronenberg, stars Michael Fassbender as the psychoanalyst Carl Jung and Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud.

Among holdovers, Paramount Vantage's "Like Crazy" grossed an estimated $609,000 over the five days and $449,000 over three days.

The PG-13 movie played at 150 locations. That's a per-screen average of just short of $3,000 for the three-day period.

(In 4th paragraph, corrects gross for "Descendants" from $7.2 million to $9.2 million)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/film_nm/us_indies

adriana lima jacksonville jaguars jacksonville jaguars ndamukong suh ndamukong suh conrad murray conrad murray