Decent debuts for ‘Hitchcock,’ ‘Rust and Bone’ in limited release

Moviegoers didn’t exactly go psycho for “Hitchcock� at the box office this weekend, but the film didn’t get slaughtered either.

The movie starring Anthony Hopkins as legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock debuted in 17 theaters this weekend and collected $300,800, according to an estimate from distributor Fox Searchlight. That amounted to a decent per-theater average of $17,000.

The picture debuted to mixed reviews at AFI Fest earlier this month and currently has a 61% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film did the briskest business this weekend in Los Angeles and New York, where it “played well to both the younger hipper audiences of Hollywood and Greenwich Village and the more mature established audience which can be found in the Landmark West L.A. and Lincoln Square on Manhattan’s West Side,� said Frank Rodriguez, Searchlight’s senior vice president of distribution.

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Another title that debuted at the art house this weekend was “Rust and Bone,� a French film starring Marion Cotillard as a whale trainer trying to put her life back together after a tragic accident leaves her without legs. Playing in just two theaters, the movie sold $30,196 worth of tickets for a so-so per-theater average of $15,098.

The last film from director Jacques Audiard, “A Prophet,� opened with a slightly higher per-location average of $18,187 in 2010. That movie went on to earn a nomination for the foreign language award at the Academy Awards; Cotillard is being eyed as an early lead actress contender for her performance in “Rust and Bone.�

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