"Spring Breakers" media saturation was constant, y'all, in the weeks leading up to the film's wide release on March 22, and that push appears to have paid off for A24 and Harmony Korine. "Spring Breakers," released by the upstart A24, grossed an estimated $5 million from 1,104 venues over this past weekend, good enough to place the indie film in sixth place at the box office.
Korine's film finished just behind Tina Fey's "Admission" in total ticket sales, a coup considering "Admission" is a mainstream, down-the-middle comedy-drama, while "Spring Breakers" is a "fever dream." Since opening in limited release on March 15, "Spring Breakers" has grossed $5.4 million, significantly more than its reported budget of $2 million. James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and a host of bad decisions star in the film.
Thus far, the "Spring Breakers" box office performance is following the same path as "The Master," the last much-hyped and controversial indie to enter the marketplace with the force of a mainstream feature. Paul Thomas Anderson's film -- produced, like "Spring Breakers," by Megan Ellison -- opened in wide release on Sept. 21 with $4.3 million in ticket sales. (It should be noted, however, that "The Master" enjoyed a higher per-screen average than Korine's feature, as it screened in just 788 theaters as opposed to the 1,104 for "Spring Breakers.")
"The Master," which cost a reported 20 times what "Spring Breakers" did, wound up with just over $16 million at the North American box office.
"Spring Breakers" is out in theaters nationwide right now.
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