Last weekend "Little Miss Sunshine" was only in 153 theaters, but it scored $17,000 per screen, landing at number 12 in the U.S. box office rankings. Fox Searchlight is so impressed by its early performance ($5.6 million so far) that it's accelerating the film's platform release, convinced that "Sunshine" might be its new "Napoleon Dynamite" (which the distributor handled in 2004) or "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (which IFC Films shepherded in 2002). That is, a superhit spawned by a slow roll-out and excellent word-of-mouth.

Even cranky media journos love it. "Entertainment Weekly" editors put "Sunshine" on its cover. Newsday says, "'Little Miss Sunshine' often emits the dulcet quirkiness of such vintage road comedies as 'Harry and Tonto' and 'Melvin and Howard.'" Time magazine adds, "It comes closer to the truth about the way people really live — on the edge of fantasy-driven desperation — than our sanctimonies permit us to think."

Already it looks like "Sunshine" is a likely Golden Globe nominee as as best comedy/musical picture alongside "Dreamgirls." "Greek Wedding" pulled that off, but didn't make it into the top Oscar five, which "Sunshine" can do because it has a certain air of esoteric cool. "Wedding's" only Academy Award nomination was for screenplay, but "Sunshine" could easily outshine "Wedding" in kudos races. Much will depend on how long it hangs on in theaters as its release widens quickly.

This weekend "Sunshine" will light up 600 theaters, jumping to 1,500 venues a week later. At the very least, it's expected to earn $25 million domestically. Much, much much more if it becomes a sleeper hit like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which earned $241 million in the U.S., $368 million globally in 2002.

Photo — from left to right: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Toni Collette and Abigail Breslin
(Fox Searchlight)