Festival and specialty fare releases crowded the top ten this weekend with Priscilla (A24) and The Holdovers (Focus Features) expanding to hit nos. 4 and 6 respectively. Yash Raj Films’ Bollywood thriller Tiger 3 is at no. 8, and world of mouth continued to buoy Radical (Pantelion/Participant) with Eugenio Derbez, rounding out the list at no. 10.
Meanwhile, Kristoffer Borgli’s dark comedy Dream Scenario had a strong limited opening — the latest in a string of them from A24. Orlando, My Political Biography, an erudite doc from Sideshow/Janus Films based on the Virginia Woolf novel, grossed an estimated $7.5k in one theater (Film Forum) with Friday and Saturday sellouts.
That’s a nice indie weekend. With The Marvels melting down and some wide releases having shifted due to the now-settled SAG-AFTRA strike, there’s been a window for independents on awards season runs.
The numbers: Sofia Coppola’s latest, Priscilla, starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi (as Elvis) grossed $4.79 million on 2,361 screens (up from 1,359 last week) for a cume of $12.7 million. Grosses driven by a young female audience were down just 5%.
The Holdovers by Alexander Payne, and starring Paul Giamatti, which premiered at Telluride, continued a robust rollout in week three grossing an estimated $3.2 million at 778 theaters (+714) for a cume of $4.3 million to date. Moves to about 1,000 theaters next week.
Tiger 3 by Maneesh Sharma debuted in about 750 theaters Saturday for the Diwali holiday, grossing an estimated $2.25 million for the two days, according to Comscore. Opened in India — actual Diwali day — on Sunday. The subtitled trailer has racked up 67 million views.
Radical grossed an estimated $1.75 million on 534 screens for a cume of $5.2 million. The film, with Derbez as a dedicated teach in a tough border town, had a huge debut in Mexico two weeks ago and a super openings Stateside last weekend (no. 5 at the box office with $2.7 million at 416 theaters).
New opener Dream Scenario took in $215,552 on 6 screens for a per theater average of $35,925 and sold out Q&As with Borgli (Sick Of Myself) and cast. The TIFF-premiering English-language debut by the Norwegian filmmaker will have a limited rollout into top markets next weekend in advance of further expansion over Thanksgiving and wider break on 12/1.
A solid post-Covid limited opening (under ten screens) has settled into the $30k range — not many beat that. A2’s Dicks: The Musical debuted to $31k on seven screens. Priscilla on six screens and The Holdovers on four both took in $33k. Outliers: MGM’s Bottoms opened at ten theaters with $46k. A24 notable Past Lives by Celine Song opened in June at four theaters, hitting $58k. The biggest by far was Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City from Focus which grossed more than $100k at four theaters when it opened in June. A24’s Beau Is Afraid by Ari Aster had a hefty per-screen average of $80K+ in April.
A24 now has Dream Scenario and Priscilla in theaters plus some screens for Dicks, for Sundance-premiering dreamscape All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt and for the Talking Heads remastered Stop Making Sense
Orland0, My Political Biography by Paul Preciado premiered at Berlin then screened at TIFF, Telluride and NYFF. Distributors Sideshow/Janus Films are “thrilled” with the opening. “We think it’s an important film that takes artistic risks and presents transgender and non-binary identity using an ingenious concept that is both provocative and joyful. We look forward to audiences discovering this in theaters across the country.”
Other indie openings: Horror spoof It’s A Wonderful Knife from IFC Films grossed an estimated $605k at 923 theaters