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Starting small on two screens but with surprising spring is animated Flow from Sideshow and Janus Films, setting the distributor’s highest per screen average of circa $25.4k, or $50.8k at two theater in NY and LA. Gints Zilbalodis’ feline tale, Latvia’s Oscar submission, was the top grossing film at NYC’s Angelika and third highest at LA’s AMC Burbank behind multiple screens of Gladiator 2 and Wicked. Sellouts were driven by families, fans of Studio Ghibli films or the Coraline re-release on weekend afternoons, to young adults.
The tale of a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood, Flow is generating buzz as a film that could be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars as well as being the first Latvian film in history to be nominated for Best International Feature.
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Premiered at Cannes and sits at 98% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Sideshow/Janus is planning a national expansion to several hundred theaters Dec. 6 to a mix of upscale commercial chain theaters and key art house runs. After all. why fight Moana 2 when Flow can trailer on it?
This is a big swing for the distributor behind Drive My Car, EO, and Payal Kapadia’s Cannes’ Gran Prix-winner All We Imagine As Light, which had a nice debut last week.
Other limited openings: Cinema Guild’s presentation of Hong Sangsoo’s A Traveler’s Needs staring Isabelle Huppert is looking at an estimated $18k opening weekend at two theaters in NYC (Film Forum, Film At Lincoln Center) with Huppert in for special preview screenings.
Sabbath Queen, Sandi DuBowski’s documentary about the 21-year journey of a radical drag queen-turned-rabbi is projecting $17.5k at the IFC Center in NYC with multiple sold-out screenings, Q&As, and one of the highest PSA’s for a doc this year. The 8 Above release will continue with more events next week hosted by Priya Parker of The Art of Gathering and Krista Tippett of On Being, before opening in Los Angeles Dec. 5, and rolling out nationwide in 2025. “I am so moved by the extraordinary response … from the audiences at IFC – sold-out crowds, standing ovations, people even coming to see the film multiple times.” said DuBowski (Trembling Before G-d).
Porcelain War from Picturehouse saw $11.2k at the IFC Center. The doc by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, winner of the 2024 Sundance Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary, follows three artists who choose to stay in their native Ukraine amid the ravages of war, armed with their art, their cameras and, for the first time in their lives, their guns.
Wide-release indies: At a box office dominated by Wicked and Gladiator 2, Angel Studios Bonhoffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin opens at no. 4 with $5.1 million; A24’s Heretic is no. 7 in week 3 at $2.2 million for a cume of circa $24.8 million; and A Real Pain from Searchlight Pictures rounds out the top ten with $1.1 million in week 4 for a cume of $4.9 million. Noting Abramorama’s release of Hello, Love, Again, which had the biggest domestic opening for a Filipino film last week, grossed $931k in week 2 for a cume of $4.7 million.