Daniel Day-Lewis’ ‘Phantom Thread’ Makes Stylish Box Office Debut
Daniel Day-Lewis’ fashion drama “Phantom Thread” performed impressively on its Christmas Day launch, earning $127,272 at four theaters for an average of $31,818 per screen.
The Focus Features awards contender is expected to be Day-Lewis’ final film. The movie — set in 1950s post-war London — follows Day-Lewis, a renowned dressmaker, who, with his sister (portrayed by Lesley Manville), is at the center of British fashion. His life is disrupted by a strong-willed woman, played by Vicky Krieps, who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover.
“Phantom Thread” earned Paul Thomas Anderson the National Board of Review’s best screenplay award and Day-Lewis a Golden Globe nomination. It marks director Anderson’s eighth movie, and his second collaboration with Day-Lewis. They teamed on 2007’s “There Will Be Blood,” for which the star won his second of three best actor Oscars.
“Phantom Thread” is showing at the ArcLight Hollywood and Landmark in Los Angeles, and at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square and Regal Union Square in New York City. It debuted three days after Steven Spielberg’s “The Post,” which finished the four-day weekend with $830,000 at nine sites for Friday-Sunday for an impressive $92,222 per-location average.
“The Post,” starring Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee and Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham, will go wide on Jan. 12. The National Board of Review has named it the best film of 2017, with Hanks and Streep taking the top acting awards. The film also received six Golden Globe nominations.
“The Post” centers on the 1971 legal battle faced by The Washington Post over its publication of the Pentagon Papers, which provided previously undisclosed details surrounding the U.S. government’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The cast includes Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford, and Zach Woods.
With $58,466, “The Post’s” debut marked the seventh-best average per-screen opening of 2017 for the Friday-Sunday period. “Call Me by Your Name” posted the best average for a three-day limited opening of the year during the Nov. 24 to Nov. 26 weekend, with $412,932 at four locations for a per-screen of $103,233 for Sony Classics.
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