Sony Pictures Classics has realized that they not only have a serious awards contender on their hands with Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, but a box office hit as well.  The distributor has announced that they plan to expand the movie, which has grossed almost $10 million on only 229 screens, to 1,200 theaters this weekend, which will make this the widest film release in Allen's long career.  Allen's last hit picture, Midnight in Paris, went to 1,038 theaters and ended up grossing $151 million worldwide along with earning him his third Oscar for Best Screenplay.  When it comes to Blue Jasmine, Oscar prognosticators are heavily tipping Cate Blanchett for a Best Actress nomination.  If Blue Jasmine continues to be a hit with audiences, it could easily find itself in contention for other categories.

Hit the jump for the press release, and click here to see when and where Blue Jasmine will be playing near you.

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Here's the press release:

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS TO EXPAND WOODY ALLEN’S BLUE JASMINE TO OVER 1,200 SCREENS NATIONWIDE

New York, NY (August 21, 2013) –  Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they will expand Woody Allen’s latest box office success BLUE JASMINE from 229 to over 1,200 screens nationwide this weekend.  This surpasses MIDNIGHT IN PARIS’ screen count, marking BLUE JASMINE as the widest release of any Woody Allen film.

The film has garnered $9,943,025 million in box office grosses since its July 26th limited release and has had numerous box office achievements including breaking opening weekend house records at the Angelika Film Center and City Cinemas 1, 2, 3, in New York City, BAM in Brooklyn as well as breaking both opening weekend and second weekend records at the Clay in San Francisco. On opening weekend, the film averaged $102,011 per screen in six theaters – one of the top limited openings of all time. This is Allen’s 44th feature film that he has written and directed and his 6th film with Sony Pictures Classics.