Oscar

Oscar Fever Begins

The Awards season officially got underway over the weekend with the rollout of the critically acclaimed indie smash Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, the movie about an abused Harlem teenager that has sparked all sorts of Oscar talk and features, among others, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, in supporting roles. The movie, with Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry as executive producers, grossed $6.1 million for Lionsgate, which acquired rights to the film at Sundance for $5.5 million, in just 174 theaters in nine cities for an impressive $35k per-screen average. Precious finished fourth at the box office this week, behind 2012, Walt Disney’s A Christmas Carol and the George Clooney comedy, The Men Who Stare at Goats. (11/16a)