“People are catching up on films,” is how one arthouse executive described the current moment in specialty, which echoes the slowdown in studio wide releases. August can be slow ahead of a trio of festivals – Venice, Toronto, New York – and a ramp up to awards season. It can also offer an less obstructed
Independent
Lionsgate thriller Fall will make an estimated $2.5+ million this weekend at 1,548 locations for a PSA of about $1,618. The audience (54% male and 61% over 25, according to PostTrak) was broader than it might have been after a company founded by director Scott Mann swapped dozens of f-words, moving Fall from an R
A handful of smaller films will start to test audience enthusiasm for movie theaters without big tentpoles. It’s been a rocky summer for specialty releases, and an uphill climb as arthouses emerge from Covid jitters with franchise films sucking up oxygen and screens. But superheroes are on hiatus. “There isn’t giant competition from tentpoles,” said
A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies hit theaters with the per-screen average this weekend in a limited opening, and the second best of the year. That record was set last spring with Everything Everywhere All at Once as the indie distributor piles up successes. Halina Reijn’s Gen-Z whodunnit comedy grossed $226,526 on six screens in NY and
A New Zealand-based platform where fans track, review and share lists of movies old and new is an increasingly influential marketing tool for specialty film with budgets tight and audiences harder to reach. Letterboxd, founded as a passion project by Auckland tech entrepreneurs Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow just over a decade ago, recently
Lena Dunham is back. Sharp Stick — the writer/director/actor’s follow to HBO series Girls and her first film since Tiny Furniture (2010) – opens in LA at Landmark’s renovated single-screen NuArt Theatre and at the Quad Cinema in NYC. It expands to 40 to 50 screens next weekend, heading to about 100 thereafter – a
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris grossed $1.35 million in its second week with a mix of arthouse and commercial theaters among top 10 locations and a nice hold from its opening weekend (-31%). Cume to date is $4.65 million for the film starring Leslie Manville as a British housekeeper who dreams of owning a Christian
Laure Calamy, who plays Noémie, the wacky assistant to Mathias Barneville in Call My Agent!, won the César (French equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Actress for My Donkey, My Lover & I, the film by Caroline Vignal that opens this weekend Stateside from Greenwich Entertainment. It’s the distributor’s second narrative film in a year
Focus Features’ Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris will hit an estimated $1.9 million weekend gross at 980 theaters drawing women with those 55 years of age and older repping 44% of the total. Turnout was best on the coasts for the drama starring Leslie Manville and Isabelle Huppert. That’s a PSA of $1,939 and a
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris, a kind Cinderella story for older women with a Dior twist, arrives in 978 theaters this weekend with strong reviews and great word of mouth. The film is a known property among that demo given its prime trailer treatment before Focus Features’ fan favorite Downtown Abbey: A New Era —
A24’s Marcel The Shell With Shoes On hit the top ten in North America at no. 8 with an estimated $340k in week three at just 48 locations and a cume north of $963k – the latest hit for the distributor after powerhouse Everything Everywhere All At Once blasted off at the specialty box office.
Fathom Events presents Betty White: A Celebration in 1,529 locations nationwide, a one-day-only special event on Monday honoring the actress who died Dec. 31 just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. The star-studded reflection on White’s life and career, which had already been set by filmmakers Steven Boettcher and Mike Trinklein to celebrate
United Artists Releasing likely won’t expand Licorice Pizza until next month and Sony Pictures Entertainment is going to take things slow with Jockey as the Omicron variant delays the return of the elusive older demo to cinemas. Jockey— one of the weekend’s few new releases — reported an estimated opening of $4,161 in three locations for
Sony Pictures Entertainment follows its release of Parallel Mothers last week with Jockey in three theaters in NY/LA (Film Forum, AMC Lincoln Square, Laemmle Royal) in a specialty market crowded by holdovers and wide releases, and amid a Covid-19 surge that’s particularly tough on arthouses. The frame isn’t ideal for new specialty fare in any case but
Memoria took in $6,797 on one screen Sunday, the first day of the first week exclusive engagement for the Neon film starring Tilda Swinton. It will play the IFC Center in NYC through Sat. Jan 1. That’s the start of a cross country tour in an unusual release strategy the distributor and the film’s director
Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers opened to an estimated $41,076 this weekend on three screens for a PSA of $13,692 over three days. Distributor Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker calls that cume conservative, anticipating $42-$43K for the Penelope Cruz-starrer that he said has been attracting a diverse new audience to Almodóvar, including younger moviegoers. “We’re thrilled
Adult demos slow to embrace cinemas may be even slower this holiday weekend amid a barrage of breathless Omicron headlines — that aren’t all bad. It spreads fast but seems less virulent than previous strains, and may burn out faster. “I think we might get dinged a little bit,” said one distribution executive. However, “This
Holdovers Drive My Car, Red Rocket and The Scary Of Sixty First looked good in limited runs on a weekend with few new specialty releases and even fewer numbers. Streamers – which presented The Lost Daughter (Netflix), Swan Song (Apple) and The Tender Bar (Amazon), don’t reveal them and smaller distributors often report early in
Much-lauded The Lost Daughter, Tribeca Fest winner The Novice, George Clooney’s The Tender Bar plus Swan Song with Mahershala Ali and the doc President dip a toe in the specialty market this Spidey-centric weekend amid gathering Covid clouds. The question: how will a surging infection rate (that just closed down theaters in Denmark and is
Sony Pictures Classics has set a March 25 theatrical release date for The Duke, directed by the late Roger Michell. The film starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren will open in theaters in New York and Los Angeles before expanding in the following weeks. The dramedy is currently playing at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles
Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, the highest-profile specialty opening to report numbers this weekend (i.e. not distributed by a streamer) posted a solid $96,953 for a per screen average of $16,158 in six theaters in New York/Los Angeles. Critics are calling the film about a washed up porn star returning to his hostile Texas hometown audacious
A24 presents Red Rocket in six theaters this weekend ahead of a limited expansion in New York and LA, adding Chicago, Austin and San Francisco next weekend with a wider rollout over the holidays to several hundred screens. The dark comedy by Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine) premiered at Cannes to a five-minute standing ovation
Neon and Participant opened animated documentary Flee to a $25,033 debut in four locations. That makes for a strong per-theater average of $6,258 ahead of a rollout early next year for the much-decorated Danish film ahead of Academy Award nominations Feb. 8. It’s one of a few rather particular offerings, including Drive My Car, that
The arthouse is awash with well reviewed new offerings from Danish animated doc Flee to Paulo Sorrentino’s Hand of God to IFC’s Benedetta heading into awards season and amid a paucity of new wide releases. The first weekend of December following the five-day Thanksgiving frame is notoriously slow at the box office, but also a
Remember when New York and Los Angeles use to post big figures for the opening of a specialty film at the box office? Well, those days look to be coming back. United Artist Releasing’s MGM Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1970s teen comedy Licorice Pizza posted a huge $83,8K opening screen average from four theaters, which the
C’mon C’mon from A24 turned in the best per-screen average for a limited platform release since Covid at five theater in New York and LA as stellar critical response was met by strong exit polls ahead of a wider rollout into top markets over Thanksgiving and continued expansion thereafter. The Mike Mills’ awards contender led
C’mon C’mon is distributor A24’s first platform release post pandemic, opening on five screens in New York (Angelika and Lincoln Square) and LA (Grove, Landmark and AMC Burbank) It’s s vote of confidence — launching in the strongest markets and letting word of mouth spread only works if there are signs of life. Specialty distributors
Belfast, Kenneth Branaugh’s intensely personal story of one boy’s childhood in tumultuous late 1960s Northern Ireland, earned an estimated $1.8M in 580 locations this weekend for a PTA of $3,111 – a solid showing for a black-and-white film in a specialty market that’s waging what one distribution exec calls an “an inch-by-inch, week-by-week recovery.” The
Sony Pictures Classics releases Telluride-darling documentary Julia with a national TV push, culinary events and virtual screenings through November hosted by famous chefs from Alice Waters (San Francisco) and Johnny Spero (Boston) to Jamie Bissonnette (Houston) and luminaries from New York, LA, Philly and Miami. Directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen talked up the film
Neon’s Spenser with Kristin Stewart rang in an opening weekend of $2.149 million on 996 screens, a per screen average of $2,158 as the film failed to connect in a market that remains a stubbornly hard sell for specialty and independent films. The well-reviewed (with raves for Stewart as Lady Diana) reimagining by director Pablo