Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Omaha director-screenwriter Alexander Payne's new movie "The Descendants" is setting box office records at Film Streams' Ruth Sokolof Theater.
Starring George Clooney, the movie is the story of a contemporary Hawaiian family in crisis, based on a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings. The film is being widely touted as an Oscar contender. Payne is on the board of the nonprofit arthouse movie theater, which has had exclusive Omaha screening rights to the movie since Nov. 23.
Nearly 5,000 people saw "The Descendants" during Thanksgiving week. The movie had more than double the attendance of the theater's previous record-holder for an opening weekend, "Black Swan."
"The Descendants" also broke the theater's daily-receipts record, then topped it again while selling out 16 screenings.
Film Streams' gross of $38,028 on two screens Nov. 23-27 topped the movie's per-screen average nationwide, which was $16,628, by more than 15 percent. "The Descendants" is the first movie Film Streams has played simultaneously on both its screens since the theater opened in 2007.
"It's a special film, and hopefully it's good news for our fundraising," said Film Streams director Rachel Jacobson. "We hope this means we can bring more of the classics and small independent films that typically don't make it to Omaha."
Jacobson said she's particularly proud to be showing a film made by a Film Streams board member, and one that meets the theater's mission statement by celebrating film as an art form.
"It seems like everyone who sees it loves it," she said. "Many are saying it's the best movie of the year."
Film Streams will have "The Descendants" all to itself through Thursday, when it expands to other Omaha-area theaters. It will continue playing on one screen at Film Streams at least through December, Jacobson said.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com
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