'Blue Jasmine' will get widest release of Woody Allen's career

By Rebecca Keegan

Aug. 21, 2013 12 AM PT

Sony Pictures Classics is increasing the theater count for “Blue Jasmine” from 229 locations to more than 1,200 on Friday -- marking the widest release of Woody Allen’s career.

The drama, which stars Cate Blanchett as a wealthy socialite in the midst of a breakdown, has garnered $9.9 million at the box office since it opened to positive reviews in limited release July 26.

Now on his 44th film as a writer and director, Allen is enjoying a late career renaissance at the box office.

PHOTOS: The many movies of Woody Allen

Like “Midnight in Paris,” Allen’s $56.8-million-grossing 2011 comedy, “Blue Jasmine” has found an audience as counter-programming to the big-budget summer movies that target young audiences.

This weekend it will go up against the science fiction comedy “The World’s End,” the horror movie “You’re Next” and the young adult fantasy “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.”

On its opening weekend, “Blue Jasmine” averaged $102,011 a screen in six theaters, one of the top limited openings of all time.

PHOTOS: Woody Allen’s highest grossing films

Adjusted for inflation, Allen’s modern hits still don’t compare to his commercial heydey in the late 1970s. Were they released today, “Annie Hall” would have made $140 million and “Manhattan” $130 million.

“I don’t know why they like one and not another,” Allen said in a Times interview in the spring, of how audiences embrace his movies. “If I could figure it out, I might be able to get rich.”

ALSO:

‘Blue Jasmine’: A bleak but moving gem

‘Blue Jasmine’ and “Elysium’: Inequality at the movies

‘Blue Jasmine’: Woody Allen on regrets, he’s had a few