'Blue Jasmine' Box Office Start Strongest In Woody Allen's Career

Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" had the best limited opening of 2013 over the weekend, earning $102,167 per screen from the six theaters showing the feature in New York and Los Angeles. The "Blue Jasmine" debut bested Harmony Korine's "Spring Breakers," which earned $87,667per screen during its opening in March.

For Allen, "Blue Jasmine" represents his biggest opening average ever: In 2011, the director's "Midnight In Paris" premiered on six screens and earned $99,834 per venue. That film wound up grossing over $56 million in North America and $151 million around the world. Whether "Blue Jasmine" follows suit remains to be seen; Sony Pictures Classics, which released both "Paris" and "Jasmine," plans to have the new film on 1000 screens by Aug. 23. The difference, of course, in the bottom lines could lie with the films: "Midnight In Paris" was a light, romantic romp, while "Blue Jasmine" is more on the dramatic side.

"The challenge was one of tone, particularly when I began to hear what the casting was like," Cate Blanchett, who stars in the film's title role, said to The Associated Press. "I did think: Is this more in the line of 'Bananas' or 'Interiors'? Which way is it going to swing? He did say to me three weeks in, 'You know, this is a serious movie.'"

For more on the "Blue Jasmine" debut and what SPC is expecting the film to do during awards season, head to the Los Angeles Times.

[via LAT]