Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. takes the Oscar contender “Precious” into more theaters this weekend, testing whether an inner-city drama about teen pregnancy, rape and incest can attract a broad audience.

“Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” opened last weekend in 18 theaters and generated record sales of $100,000 per location, according to researcher Hollywood.com Box-Office. This weekend it’s in 174 cinemas and will expand to more than 600 over the Nov. 26 Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

The movie is drawing comparisons to 2001’s “Monster’s Ball,” which took in $44.9 million worldwide for Lions Gate, and News Corp.’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” Both low-budget movies won Oscars and were a financial success. Whether “Precious” does the same will depend on word-of-mouth support from viewers and Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences voters.

“Certainly you can draw some very ambitious parallels,” said Matthew Harrigan, a Wunderlich Securities analyst in Denver.

The film focuses on an obese black girl who is physically and emotionally abused by her mother and repeatedly raped, and twice impregnated, by her father. The movie, from executive producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, received 63 positive critiques out of 72 compiled by Rottentomatoes.com, a Web site owned by New York-based News Corp. that aggregates reviews.

Gabourey Sidibe stars as the 16-year-old Precious. Co-stars include comedian Mo’Nique, singer Mariah Carey and rock musician Lenny Kravitz.

‘Power of the Story’

“‘Precious’ played equally well across a wide and diverse audience, affirming our convictions about the potential and power of the story,” Co-Chief Operating Officer Joe Drake said on a Nov. 10 conference call. “From here we expand aggressively into Thanksgiving weekend.”

Lions Gate plans to put “Precious” in more than 2,000 theaters eventually, Drake said.

Executives at the company, based in Vancouver and run from Santa Monica, California, weren’t available to discuss the film, spokeswoman Kate Hubin said.

Lions Gate acquired “Precious” for $5.5 million, Vice Chairman Michael Burns said on the call. Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer urged comparisons to overachievers including “Brokeback Mountain” and “Slumdog.”

“It has an extraordinary amount of upside in the box office,” Feltheimer said.

‘Brokeback,’ ‘Slumdog’

“Brokeback Mountain” won three Oscars, including best director for Ang Lee, and generated $178 million worldwide, according to Sherman Oaks, California-based researcher Box Office Mojo. “Slumdog,” released in 2008, won the Oscar for best picture and had sales of $377 million.

“Precious” is similar to “Slumdog Millionaire” in that scenes of horrific abuse are tempered by an uplifting conclusion, said Paul Dergarabedian, who analyzes the film marketplace for Hollywood.com.

Lions Gate has had success in the past building Oscar buzz for its movies. “Monster’s Ball,” made for about $4 million, started in seven theaters and eventually played in more than 700. The movie garnered a best-actress Oscar for Halle Berry. The studio’s “Crash,” released in 2005, won for best picture and made $98.4 million globally on a production budget of about $6.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

Lions Gate, the largest independent movie studio, is ranked seventh in 2009 box-office receipts with $337.6 million in U.S. and Canadian sales as of Nov. 8, according to Box Office Mojo. For the second quarter ended Sept. 30, net income was $31.7 million, versus a loss of $51.8 million a year earlier, the company said on Nov. 9.

Lions Gate closed unchanged at $5.25 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 4.5 percent this year. News Corp. gained 28 cents to $12.61 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

‘Madea,’ ‘Saw’

The studio’s biggest film this year is “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail,” with $91 million in domestic sales. “Saw VI,” the most recent in the studio’s horror franchise, was among the year’s disappointments, taking in $26.8 million in its first three weeks in theaters.

“Slumdog,” about a boy’s rise from poverty in Mumbai, may have been easier to market to audiences than “Precious” is, Dergarabedian said. The film’s trailers included Bollywood-style dance scenes that masked the harshness of some scenes, he said.

“This is a tough movie to watch, but sometimes the most challenging films are ultimately the most satisfying,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 14, 2009 00:01 EST