MUMBAI: This week‘s release Steve McQueen‘s Shame was one of the top debuts ever for a film given a NC-17 rating. The film grossed $361,181 from 10 theaters for a location average of $36,118.

Fox Searchlight, that is planning an aggressive awards campaign for the film has decided to first test the appetite for the film in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.

Searchlight, that acquired Shame from the Telluride Film Festival, believes that the film will play well throughout awards season, despite the challenges associated with the NC-17 rating.

Two awards contenders landed on the top 10 box office chart. Martin Scorsese‘s Hugo expanded into an additional 500 theatres over the weekend. The 3D family friendly film-named best film of the year by the National Board of Review last week, garnered $7.6 million from 1,840 locations.

In another victory for Searchlight, Alexander Payne‘s The Descendants climbed to No. 7 on the box office chart after grossing $5.2 million as it added 141 locations for a total theater count of 574.

Descendants, starring George Clooney has now grossed $18.1 million and is the first limited release to ever cross $10 million in 12 days. And the film is already the No. 2 limited release of the year after Woody Allen‘s Midnight in Paris that has roped in a total $56 million.

The tally of Midnight in Paris includes $274,518 million grossed over the weekend as Sony Pictures Classics made one last push before the DVD comes out on December 20 and re-released the film in nearly 300 theaters.