Box office

YOUR WEAKENED WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Movie grosses have dropped precipitously this summer, and the studios can’t pin it on file-sharing this time. The fact is that people no longer have to leave their living rooms in order to get all the high-quality entertainment they desire—and such entertainment is no longer dominated by films but by cable and network original programming. Things are so depressing that we’ve decided to forgo the Top 5 this week. Instead, using stats from Box Office Mojo, we’ve put together a chart of the Top 5 limited-release films, the ones made by and for grown-ups—a more upbeat sector of the movie biz:

11. Begin Again (Weinstein) – $2.76m (-2.1%), 1,302/$2,121 avg. (week 4)
15. Boyhood (IFC) – $1.20m (+209.1%), 33/$36,303 avg. (week 2)
16. Chef (Open Road) – $1.13m (-10.3%), 552/$2,045 avg. (week 11)
22. Wish I Was Here (Focus) – $495k, 68/$7,279 avg. (debut)
23. Snowpiercer (Radius-TWC) – $456k (-28.2%), 211/$2,161 avg. (week 4)

The weekend was particularly gratifying for Boyhood director Richard Linklater, who has butts in seats to go with the rave reviews, for Wish I Was Here creator Zach Braff (who has also “curated” a stellar soundtrack, on Columbia) and for Jon Favreau, whose delightful Chef hits $26m. On Friday, these feel-good filmmakers will be joined by Woody Allen, whose latest, Magic in the Moonlight, has generated an extremely positive advance buzz. (7/21a)