Neon presents Spencer on just under 1,000 screens, Pablo Larraín’s well reviewed psychological drama about the weekend Princess Diana rewrote the future of the British monarchy. The film is said to be looking at a $2-$2.5 million opening with an 84% Certified Fresh critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes but a 50% audience score (albeit from
Independent
EXCLUSIVE: The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis grossed $1.205 million Wednesday night at special showings in 400+ theaters across North America (a $2,863 per-screen average) and has added more cinemas/runs through Nov. 18. The biopic, directed by Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker Norman Stone, traces the spiritual journey of renowned author
Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho is an arthouse film that opened on 3,000 screens — a gamble in a theatrical market where multiplex-goers have been mostly turning out for big-budget, high-octane studio franchises. (Dune, Halloween Kills and No Time To Die took top spots this weekend, a soft one overall where Halloween parties may
Focus Features presents Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho, a twisty psycho-thriller with a great soundtrack, as Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch goes wider, testing the appeal of a director whose films have been called the arthouse equivalent of Marvel. Last Night, a time-bending genre tale, unspools on just over 3,000 screens, not exactly specialty
Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch did what a glum arthouse market was waiting for, revved it up with a smashing three-day average. “If Wes builds it, they will come,” said an elated Searchlight Pictures after a two year wait to get the film into theaters. It opened in 14 markets and in a total of
After a long Covid delay, The French Dispatch opens this weekend with distributor Searchlight Pictures and the industry hoping the whimsical Wes Anderson’s film brings a touch of Grand Budapest Hotel-ish coin to the specialty box office. Hoping, but not counting on it, as the box office take beyond studio tentpoles has been largely dour
EXCLUSIVE: Arthouse streamer and distributor Mubi is launching a U.S. in-theater offering this month letting members see one film a week that it selects at participating cinemas starting in New York City. It said Mubi Go will roll out nationwide in selected markets with LA next in early 2022. Mubi Go (available in the U.K.
A24’s Lamb hit the top ten for the second week running (No. 8) at the North American box office, surging past $2 million. The Rescue expanded to 552 theaters, the widest documentary screen count since Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, said distributor Greenwich Entertainment, anticipating it will ultimately top $1M. Holdovers outperformed newcomers this weekend,
IFC presents Mia Hansen-Løve’s Cannes entry Bergman Island, Film Movement brings Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy to the arthouse this weekend, as A24’s surprise hit Lamb and Greenwich Entertainment’s The Rescue go wider week two after a strong open. It’s early days but a nascent specialty revival may be in the works ahead of a stream of
NatGeo’s The Rescue by Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo) stormed the specialty box off in five runs in NYC, LA and Chicago this weekend with a nearly $14,000 per screen average — the best opening PSA for a documentary playing in more than one market in over two years. (Estimated three-day cume was
The Rescue, an arresting truth-is-stranger-than fiction story of a Thai youth soccer team trapped in a remote flooded cave system opens on five screens in NY/LA/Chicago this weekend in a specialty market waiting “for audiences to wake up and see that they’re missing out,” according to Ed Arentz, co-president of the doc’s distributor Greenwich Entertainment.
Neon presents Julia Ducournau’s Titane, the lauded Palme d’Or winner set to test a stressed specialty market even as Messrs. Venom and Bond crash into wide release this weekend and next. The edgy, high octane French tale about a woman with a metal plate in her head and an automotive fetish hits 562 screens in
Bleecker Street’s sci-fi romantic comedy I’m Your Man blasted off – relatively speaking in today’s specialty market – with a per screen average of $2,139 in 16 theaters in North America (12 U.S., four in Canada). Directed by Maria Schrader film with Maren Eggert and Dan Stevens, it was the rare specialty film of late
Bleecker Street’s I’m Your Man opens on 12 screens in seven markets, expanding to another 15 next week in a rare platform release banking on strong word of mouth for the well-reviewed, 94% Certified Fresh film that’s Germany’s entry for the 2022 International Feature Oscar race. Helmed by Unorthodox director Maria Schrader, the sci-fi romantic
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye from Searchlight Pictures finished in the top ten domestically (at no. 9) with the highest per screen average of the group after Shang-Chi and Free Guy. Its estimated PTA, $1,500 in 425 theaters, bested newcomers Blue Bayou and wide releases Cry Macho and Copshop on a per screen basis. That’s
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye has something going for it that Searchlight Pictures’ Summer of Soul did not — a minimum 45-day exclusive theatrical window now that Hollywood appear to be is in the midst of a pivot to encourage moviegoing. Eyes, directed by Michael Showalter, opens on 425 screens, expanding to another 400 next
Focus Features landed another specialty success with The Card Counter, Paul Schrader’s biggest directorial opening in over 30 years since 1987’s Light of Day and with a likely No. 8 ranking at the North American box office this weekend. The film – starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe — ran in 580
Tango Shalom — where a female Tango dancer (Dancing with the Stars champion Karina Smirnoff) invites an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi (Jos Laniado) to enter a televised dance competition — was an arthouse standout this weekend with a per screen average of over $4,000 at four theaters in New York and LA. The solid performance in a
A glum arthouse market may be entering a gateway weekend into happier days after months of distributors — with rare exceptions — pulling out their hair at dismal per-screens averages. That’s because festival buzz is mounting for film after film – from Card Counter, Dune and Spencer (debuted in Venice, opening respectively Sept 10, Oct.
Together, the lockdown drama from Bleeker Street, opens on 250 screens this weekend in a specialty market treading water and with little visibility on box office amid daily Covid headlines. The trend continues of specialty films going wider faster and narrowing the window from theatrical to VOD in a nod to the chunk of its
Sean Penn’s Flag Day raised a $1,656 per screen average from 24 runs this weekend, a glum opening for the father-daughter family drama from United Artists Releasing. The film, directed and starring Penn as the most notorious counterfeiter in U.S. history, along with daughter Dylan Penn, targeted an older, sophisticated demo that’s proving hard to
United Artists Releasing opens Flag Day, directed and starring Sean Penn, in a uneven specialty market where the Delta Variant spike has theaters in key cities requiring proof of vaccination, theaters are hard to book, and hits have been rare since the industry reopened. Eventually “We’ll crack the code, because good movie and good stories
Sony Pictures Classics’ The Lost Leonardo had a notable debut on three screens on a quiet weekend for specialty openings. The film about da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi painting opened to $13,209 with a per screen average of $4,403 ahead of a national release. The distributor has been a steadying presence a tough arthouse climate. Its
Documentaries about a da Vinci and a dictator, a Pablo Larraín drama with Gael Garcia Bernal, a Donnie Yen martial arts thriller by the late Benny Chan, and CODA, Apple’s record-busting Sundance acquisition, make specialty bows this weekend as the arthouse sector fights through a slow reopening. “The market is still finding a balance right
It was a triumphant second weekend for indie Stillwater from Focus Features, which hit the $10 million mark in 2,611 theatres (up by 80) and 233 DMA’s in North America, where it was no. 5. The Matt Damon-starrer held up strongly from its debut, dipping 45% — compared with a 64% drop for The Green
Sony Picture Classics and Neon fared well in their small releases this week with Nine Days and Ailey respectively, running across 6 total locations in New York, Los Angeles and Irvine – both notching heavy per screen averages with the former leading to its wider release next week. Nine Days hit NYC (Angelika, AMC Lincoln Square)
Science fiction drama Nine Days from Sony Pictures Classics opens in four theaters in a specialty market buoyed by recent releases like Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain and Pig. New York’s arthouse scene, outpaced by LA of late, is perking up, distributors say (Ailey numbers were super there) and moviegoers are rewarding unique films
The Paris Theater, an NYC cinematic landmark rescued by Netflix in 2019, will officially reopen August 6 with the streamer’s The Forty-Year-Old Version by Radha Blank and a week of repertory films programmed by the director. The only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan and the borough’s largest, with 545 seats, has hosted limited theatrical engagements
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain kept its spot in the North American top ten for week two in 954 theaters – up by 27 — with an $830,000 estimated gross for the three days, leading the specialty box office. As per Focus Features, that was a total cume of over $3.7 million for the
Mark Wahlberg strides into theaters this weekend with Joe Bell as the Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, upcoming King Richard) film debuts on 1,093 screens supported by robust advertising and a star-driven social media campaign. Roadside Attractions is distributing, having snapped up the film from Solstice Studios which acquired it off of a 2020