Oscars wins boost "Artist," "Separation," "Undefeated"

LOS ANGELES, March 4 (TheWrap.com) - A week after taking home the gold, a handful of Oscar-winning movies are raking in the green.

"The Artist," which won five Academy Awards, including best picture, last Sunday, grossed $3.9 million -- more than 10 percent of its domestic total so far -- this weekend.

That was enough to make the mostly silent, black-and-white film the No. 10 movie in America. The movie was No. 11 on Super Bowl weekend, but this is its first appearance in the top 10.

"This is a testament to the playability of this film," Erik Lomis, The Weinstein Company's chief of distribution, told TheWrap Sunday. "It's in its 15th week, and people are starting to find out about it in the smaller markets."

Indeed, The Weinstein Company increased the number of locations showing the film from 966 last weekend to 1,756 this weekend. Lomis said he expects to keep the PG-13-rated movie in the same number of locations next weekend.

"A Separation," the PG-13 Iranian movie that won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, took $1 million -- 173 percent more than it grossed last weekend -- in its 10th week of release, according to Rentrak.

Sony Pictures Classics expanded the number of locations showing writer-director-producer Asghar Farhadi's movie from 83 last weekend to 243 after the Oscars. It has grossed $3.7 million.

The documentary "Undefeated" took $84,211 in its third week of release.

The Weinstein Company, which is distributing "Undefeated," expanded the number of locations showing the Oscar-winning movie from five to 13. The Oscar win and theater expansion increased the film's take by 337 percent over last weekend.

The company's "The Iron Lady," which earned a surprise best actress Oscar for Meryl Streep, took $900,000 -- 29 percent more than it took last weekend -- on 511 screens. The PG-13 biopic of Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of Britain, is in its 10th week in release.

"The Descendants" won a best adapted screenplay Oscar but is finally beginning to lose steam at the box office. Fox Searchlight reduced the number of locations showing the movie from 889 to 694.

Still, the R-rated movie took just short of $1.4 million over the weekend. Now in its 16th week of release, the film has grossed nearly $80.5 million.

Among new specialty releases this weekend, Focus Features' "Being Flynn," starring Robert De Niro and Paul Dano, opened to $45,546 at four locations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oscars-wins-boost-artist-separation-undefeated-223403745.html

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