From indieWIRE:

“Box Office: “Joan” and “Bone” Lead Potent Weekend For Indie Debuts (UPDATED)
A scene from “Winter’s Bone.”

After a few rather uneventful weekends at the specialty box office, a quartet of very strong debuts should lift the spirits of many a distributor this Sunday afternoon. According to estimates provided by Rentrak earlier this afternoon, four films opened to $15,000+ per-theater-averages, including two - Sundance alums “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” and “Winter’s Bone” - that managed $20,000+.

At 7 theaters in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, IFC Films’ release of Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s critically acclaimed documentary “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” led the way, grossing $170,580. That was enough to give it a $24,368 per-theater-average - by far the best for a documentary so far this year (is-it-a-documentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop” comes the closest with $20,770). IFC said the film - which chronicles the private dramas of iconic comedian Joan Rivers - played to sold out shows all weekend and that they plan an aggressive expansion: The top fifteen markets next week, and the top fifty by Independence Day weekend. Its debut number suggest that the expansion has the potential to turn “A Piece of Work” into a “Valentino” or “September Issue”-sized hit, though obviously it’s much too early to make such a forecast.

Also notable regarding the Joan Rivers doc is that it had the benefit of being on 3 screens at New York’s IFC Center, meaning it was screening upwards of 15 times a day at that single venue. Not benefiting from such a scenario, but managing a $20,000+ per-theater-average anyway, was Debra Granik’s U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winner “Winter’s Bone.” Released by Roadside Attractions, the highly acclaimed “Bone” - a noir following a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) living in the Ozark Mountains - grossed $85,442 from 4 screens (2 in New York and 2 in Los Angeles), averaging $21,360. “