Julio Torres’s directorial debut Problemista from A24 posted the highest per-screen average of the weekend with a solid limited opening, grossing $140.9k on five screens in New York and LA with multiple sold out Q&As. The film starring Torres and Tilda Swinton saw a PSA of $28k and strong exits at all locations. A surreal
American Fiction
An Academy Award nomination wasn’t on Sterling K. Brown’s bingo card for 2024. In fact, when he heard the news, albeit a bit delayed, on Jan. 23, his response, he tells THR, was, “Well, I’ll be damned.” Winning an Oscar, however, was always a dream of the actor’s and part of a long-term goal of
Jeffrey Wright took home the award for best lead performance at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards for his role in American Fiction. When Wright made his way to the stage to accept the award from presenter Colman Domingo, he expressed how thrilled he was to receive the honor from the actor. “Wow, thank you,
The Avenue release Land of Bad, powered by Variance, grossed $1.8 million on 1,120 screens, landing in the top ten for the weekend as Variance noted strong word of mouth with Saturday grosses jumping 37% from Friday’ (not including Thursday sneaks). The estimate for the four days is $2.07 million. The William Eubank film starring Russell
The Taste Of Things, a meditation on turn-of-the-century French cooking — no chicken wings or nachos in sight — is stirring up a nice weekend for IFC Films with $126k and the best per-theater opening of the year so far on Super Bowl weekend. Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days from Neon is looking at $100k on
Two specialty films now in wide release hit the top ten this weekend with American Fiction at no. 8 and Poor Things, at no. 9 and claiming the mantle of the highest-grossing limited opening release of 2023. The Zone of Interest has had a terrific expansion for a foreign language film about a heavy subject
It’s quiet but Poor Things and American Fiction are selling tickets. The Yorgos Lanthimos film starring Emma Stone enters the weekend at just over $26 million on 1,950 screens, continuing a strong theatrical run for a movie some have called bonkers but is zipping along. American Fiction adds a few hundred screens this weekend in
Toho International’s Godzilla Minus One – with an Oscar nom and a $2.6 million estimated three-day gross – was no. 10 at the U.S. box office in week 9, and hit a milestone Friday. The giant radioactive reptile, on 2,001 screens, became the third highest-grossing foreign-language film Stateside passing Hero (2002, $53.7m) and Parasite (2019,
A handful of indies bow or expand this weekend as Oscar hopefuls from Poor Things to The Holdovers and American Fiction crowd theaters after nominations earlier this week. Anatomy Of A Fall is getting a big bump. Oppenheimer is back on Imax. New specialty releases include Daisy Ridley-starring Sometimes I Think About Dying by Rachel
It’s been going on for a while, and it’s been even worse post-pandemic, but the Oscar halo effect for Best Picture nominees has diminished greatly. Even though most of this year’s Best Picture contenders are available in the home, there are three in an exclusive theatrical release which look to make gains by Oscar night,
Ava DuVernay’s Origin’s theatrical debut grossed a solid $875k on 130 screens with a $7k per-theater average said to be better than Neon anticipated. The distributor is “thrilled” with the number. “Working in close collaboration with Ava and her team at Array we’ve built a multi-tiered release plan that began with a high-profile December qualifying
Toho International’s sleeper hit Godzilla Minus One grossed an estimated $853k this weekend for a cume of $50.9 million at 605 locations in week seven as arctic blasts buffet much of the nation. The film about the giant reptilian monster passed the $50 million market Saturday, becoming the highest grossing Japanese language live action or animated
Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things rounded out the top ten this weekend and American Fiction from Amazon MGM Studios continued its slow burn with both films in the running for big awards at the Golden Globes tonight. Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things starring Emma Stone grossed $2 million in week five on 750 screens (down from 700)
The indie box office busted out this year, hitting is stride post-Covid with an eclectic string of releases that made a splash artistically and financially. Independents and mini-majors saw $1.47 billion in box office receipts as of Dec. 27, up from $811.7 million in 2022, according to Comscore. Focus Features had the biggest limited opening
Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things had a monster of an expansion, sewing up $1.3 million at just 82 theaters for a no. 10 spot at the weekend box office. American Fiction and The Zone of Interest, from, respectively, Amazon MGM Studios and A24, opened nicely as specialty films with original stories of all kinds are seeing
Jonathan Glazer’s unusual Holocaust film The Zone Of Interest opens in four theaters in New York and LA today as Cord Jefferson’s satirical comedy American Fiction debuts in seven, the latest trenchant specialty offerings in a fall market full of strong titles as year-end approaches and the awards season clicks into high gear after Golden
Six months in, the strikes are over. Ten days out, the holidays begin. As for the movies—unfortunately, the most exciting part of the year is already behind us. It’s disconcerting to realize that there is no unavoidably dazzling, must-see, pop cultural event film on the schedule for the rest of 2023. Certainly, some fine pictures,
EXCLUSIVE: Cord Jefferson’s feature directorial debut, American Fiction, is changing up its release plan from Nov. 3rd limited opening to Dec. 15. The MGM/MRC theatrical release which stars Jeffrey Wright, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, Skyler Wright among others is a scathing satire on the publishing industry and its treatment of serious