“La La Land” off to hot start

Lionsgate's awards contender “La La Land” is off to a sizzling start with about $300,000 on Friday at five theatres in Los Angeles and New York, early estimates showed.

Should the romantic comedy-drama, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, maintain that pace through the weekend, “La La Land” would wind up with around $800,000 to $900,000 for the three days. That would give it $160,000 to $180,000 per location — by far the top figure of 2016.

 “La La Land” could post the best opening weekend for a platform release since “The Grand Budapest Hotel” took in $811,116 from four theatres for a location average of $202,792 in March 2014.

Lionsgate plans to expand “La La Land,” directed by Damien Chazelle, to about 200 locations on December 16 and go wider on December 25. The movie won the top film award from the New York Film Critics Circle and was named as one of AFI's Top 10 Films of the year.

Stone stars as an aspiring actress while Gosling portrays a jazz musician in the film. Lionsgate and Black Label media co-financed the $30 million project, which carries a 96% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Source: Variety