Awards kudos, critics’ lists, varied nominations and wins are boosting indie film standouts this weekend. The market is crowded as indies vie with each other, studio tentpoles and fare from Pusha: The Rule – Part 2 and the remastered Daft Punk & Leiji Matsumoto: Interstella 5555. But many specialty distributors are more upbeat now than at
Specialty Box Office
This was a notable specialty weekend with Latvian animated Flow powering on and Luca Quadagnino’s Queer starring Daniel Craig rocking its expansion. A notable trio of concert films popped. Telugu Pushpa: The Rule – Part 2 had a super opening, the biggest for an Indian film in some time, as did Solo Leveling – ReAwakening,
A record-breaking Thanksgiving frame is lifting all boats, tentpoles the most evident, with boom, boom, boom for Moana 2, Wicked and Gladiator II. Some 30 million moviegoers went to see one of these. In the weird post-Covid shift, tentpoles can slay, and indies can disappear. This weekend, however, they didn’t. Audiences showed decent specialty support
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
Hello, Love, Again, the widest domestic release for a Filipino film, now holds a record for the highest opening weekend for the same with $2.4 million and a no. 8 spot. Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain crossed $3 million at the box office following its expansion to more than 1,000 theaters in week 3, landing
The independent film fall festival love affair with moviegoers continues with A Real Pain posting the year’s third best per screen average. Anora continues its standout run as does Conclave. The Ralph Fiennes-starring Vatican thriller is no. 4 at the box office in week 2. A24’s We Live In Time is no. 6. Searchlight Pictures’
Great indie numbers this weekend as Anora turned out highest per-screen-average of 2024 at $90k on six screens for a $540k gross. We Live In Time, the best platform expansion of the year, grossed $4.2 million on 956 screens in week 2 for a $4.5 million cume. Newcomers Union and The Line fared well on
Independents look solid this weekend with Vertical’s Widow Clicquot nice alternative programming amid summer blockbuster season, IFC Film horror Oddity off to a fine start, and Thelma, one of the year’s biggest specialty hits, passing $8 million. New films and holdovers in limited release did business. Thomas Napper’s Widow Clicquot is looking at an estimated
A24’s drama Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo turned out the third highest limited opening and per screen average of the year so far, and Touch from Focus Features by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur has a nice opening. Indian 2 marks the third straight week with one or more Indian films in the top ten. It’s
There wasn’t a lot new opening this weekend specialty-wise but few notable holdovers continued to crank in moderate release namely Kalki 2898 AD, which is on fire, as well as Thelma and Kinds Of Kindness. Kalki will end at no. 8 on 925 screens in week two, the second weekend in the top ten for
Two Indian films flexed at the domestic box office — and when they hit they really do hit, buoying exhibitors through good times and bad — with Kinds Of Kindness hitting no. 10 in a major expansion and Thelma not far behind. Kalki 2898 AD, a Telugu sci-fi epic from Prathyangira Cinemas, is looking at an
It was an Inside Out specialty weekend, fairly quiet and with a stream of indies films and more wide releases. The schedule is starting to recover from a strike-induced slump that, however, provided oxygen to some indies. Small films have been competing for screens with majors at arthouses from Alamo Drafthouse to Landmark since theaters
Cardio is good. Sony Pictures Classics’ 4k rerelease of Run Lola Run had a healthy weekend, opening to an estimated $154k 275 screens. This the 25th anniversary of the U.S. debut of Tom Tykwer’s German experimental thriller that sees flame-haired Lola (Franka Potente) on the move in Berlin, pounding the pavement to come up with 100,000
In A Violent Nature, an undead murderous monster’s slow striding through the woods, has generated IFC Films’ second-best opening ever since its indie horror hit Late Night With The Devil in March. The artsy slasher written and directed by Chris Nash will see an estimated weekend gross of $2.1 million on 1,426 screens, IFC’s widest
As Neon was justly feted this weekend for a fifth consecutive Cannes Palme d’Or winner (Anora), it also had a nice showing at home with a terrific expansion for indie Babes. The feature directorial debut of Pamela Adlon jumped from a 12-screen opening last week to 590 and hit no. 9 at the domestic box
Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw Then TV Glow is looking at an estimated $195k+ on 21 screens, a great week-two expansion for the A24 film. The number is driven by a passionate fan base for the gender-bending supernatural thriller that’s been skewing very young, male and heavily LGBTQ+. Will continue a rollout in coming weeks. It’s
Uberto Pasolini, who wrote and directed the James Norton-starring Nowhere Special that opened this weekend, says, rightfully, the film’s power emanates from the tangible bond you feel between father and son. Norton – the BAFTA-nominated British actor (Bob Marley: One Love, Little Women, Happy Valley) – is John a 35-year old window washer and single father to
This weekend was the first in some time without a specialty film in the top ten as wide releases ramp up from Civil War to Abigail and hang in theaters as per Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two — in weeks 7 and 8, respectively. One distributor calls late April a bit of
Nathan Zellner and David Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset is stomping into circa 850 theaters this weekend after debuting in 9 with a solid opening for a film many could find weird. A tribe of Sasquatch, possibly the last of their kind, live and love in the woods of northern California, where it was shot. “We are
Concert film Suga – Agust D Tour ‘D-Day’ The Movie from Trafalgar Releasing took in $990k for Saturday alone, rounding out the North American box office top ten — testament to the power of concert films post-Covid and the enduring popularity of the K-Pop powerhouse. The band is currently on hiatus as members entered military
Sony Pictures Classics’ Wicked Little Letters grossed an estimated $1.5+ million in a big second week expansion for the R-rated British period comedy to 1,000 screens from five. The Thea Sharrock-directed film starring Olivia Colman (also a producer) and Jessie Buckley, no. 8 at the domestic weekend box office, has a $1.6+ million cume. Colman
IFC Films’ Late Night With The Devil topped the specialty market in its second week, as a Tollywood and a Bollywood film both made the top ten in a rare occurrence. Strong horror and Indian fare have helped buoy the box office since Covid. They continue to fill in the top ten, including this week,
IFC’s Late Night With The Devil has scared up the distributor’s largest opening weekend ever with an estimated $2.8+ million on 1.043 screens, coming in at no. 6 at the domestic box office. Prior to this weekend, Watcher was IFC’s top opening film at $827k, followed by Skinamarink with $819k and Blackberry at $801k. Late
Indies in moderate-wide release claimed the nos. 6, 8 and 9 spots at the domestic box office led by Love Lies Bleeding. Kristin Steward toplines the Berlin-premiering film by Rose Glass that expanded nationwide, grossing $2.5 million for the weekend on 1,362 screens (up from five theaters opening week). The steamy crime thriller from A24
Chinese comedy drama YOLO from Sony Pictures International had a yodeling good domestic debut, grossing $840k on 200 screens, making no. 9 on the weekend top 10. Directed and produced by and starring China’s top grossing female helmer, Jia Ling, it’s earned close to $482 million in China since opening Feb. 10 — and was
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
With no new bust-out limited releases, repertory continues to do its part for the specialty box office, the latest a 4k restoration of Nostalghia. Kino Lorber said the Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 film, which opened Wednesday, will gross an estimated $22.87k at Film Forum in NYC for the five days. It’s currently the top performer at the
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
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