In the so-called "specialty box office" category for this past weekend… 

First, the newbies… Rel Dowdell's 2nd feature film, Changing The Game, which stars Tony Todd, Irma P. Hall, and actor/rapper Kirk “Sticky Fingaz” Jones, opened on 6 screens around the country, scored an opening weekend tally of $13,200 (or about $2,200 per screen). 

May not seem like very much, but when compared to similar films opening this past weekend (specifically in terms of number of debut screens and awareness), it did well – beating out films that were released by larger, betterl-known companies, like Magnolia Pictures, Tribeca and Roadside Attractions. 

Dowdell's film opened exclusively at AMC Theaters in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Chicago.

The synopsis for the drama, shot in Philadelphia, reads:

… a searing and poignant drama about Darrell Barnes; a brilliant young African-American man who makes it from the slums of Philly to the posh and enviable life on Wall Street as one of its top players. However, Darrell soon realizes that the business brings on entirely different villains to contend with. Lethal obstacles such as internal racism coupled with shady international characters threaten to add him to the list of being a statistic of another African American male dead before his prime. Darrell does have an edge to get him out of these virulent situations that no one knows, something almost mystical given to him be a slain childhood friend.

And second, for some older films… Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day hung on to its 106 screens, and has thus far raked in close to $1.2 million. Not bad at all actually; I had no idea what to expect in terms of box office for the film when it opened, and although I'm sure CodeBlack Entertainment would love to see its figures skyrocket, they are probably pleased with its take thus far.

And Marley (which is also available on VOD and digital download) has made close to $900,000.

When I have new numbers for AFFRM's Restless City, and Jeff Byrd's urban contemporary re-telling of It’s a Wonderful Life, titled A Beautiful Soul, I'll share here.