That specialty film distributors are struggling is clear from this list of the top grossers for the first half of 2009 offered by IndieWire’s Peter Knegt along with an
. The list does not include films that opened in wide release, so it leaves out “Coraline,” which Focus distributed for a hefty gross of $73 million and Miramax’s “Adventureland,” deemed a disappointment with a total gross of $16 million. Not making the cut were the three Weinstein Co. releases so far this year — “Crossing Over,” “Fanboys” and (barely) “Killshot” — which struggled to a combined take of around $1 million. That means Harrison Ford, star of “Crossing Over,” was outgrossed by Nia Vardalos, whose “My Life in Ruins” took in a dreadful $8 million for Fox Searchlight while her second comeback attempt in a month, IFC’s “I Hate Valentine’s Day,” collected a total of just over $5,000 on three screens last weekend.
Get the list after the jump. 1. Sunshine Cleaning (Overture Films) – $12,055,108
2. Away We Go (Focus Features) – $6,077,303
3. The Class (Sony Pictures Classics) – $3,766,810
4. The Brothers Bloom (Summit Entertainment) – $3,270,242
5. Two Lovers (Magnolia Pictures) – $3,149,034
6. Sin Nombre (Focus Features) – $2,527,470
7. Easy Virtue (Sony Pictures Classics) – $2,272,691
8. Is Anybody There? (Story Island) – $2,010,237
9. Whatever Works (Sony Pictures Classics) – $1,911,001
10. Rudo y Cursi (Sony Pictures Classics) – $1,781,243
11. Gomorrah (IFC) – $1,579,146
12. Valentino: The Last Emperor (Truly Indie) – $1,533,077
13. Every Little Step (Sony Pictures Classics) – $1,313,372
14. Summer Hours (IFC) – $1,313,372
15. Food, Inc (Magnolia Pictures) – $1,286,693
16. Sugar (Sony Pictures Classics) – $1,063,833
17. Cheri (Miramax) – $1,023,909
18. Moon (Sony Pictures Classics) – $945,279
19. Management (Samuel Goldwyn) – $910,955
20. Tyson (Sony Pictures Classics) – $857,488
