A24’s The Brutalist busted out in limited expansion this weekend with close to $1.39 million on just 68 screens, a $20.4k per screen average, excellent for a period film with a three hour and 35-minute run time about a Hungarian architect in 1950s Doylestown, Pa. It won multiple Golden Globes — for Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor for Adrien Brody and Best Director — last Sunday.
This is another fine indie weekend as Hard Truths by iconic filmmaker Mike Leigh saw $165k at 22 theaters, a strong opening, despite severe weather in the south and the ongoing fire crisis in LA.
The Last Showgirl rounded out the top 10 on its debut weekend.
Holdovers Nosferatu, A Complete Unknown and Babygirl are at nos. 4, 6 and 8 respectively.
Indie distributors are now wondering if arthouses that gravitated to wide-release studios films since Covid may want to rethink.
The Brutalist: Another example of A24’s creative thinking included opening weekend perks at select screenings. Chicago’s Music Box Theatre, the nation’s top performer for the film on Saturday — and probably today as well given that its 700+ seat auditorium is pretty much mostly sold out– offered moviegoers at “premium” 70mm showtimes an exclusive poster commemorating the presentation, format and run of engagement at the Music Box and a limited-edition brochure and postcard celebrating the life and work of lead character, the fictional Lazlo Toth, played by Brody.
A24 also leaned into an intermission, a bygone staple of cinema that reappears occasionally (2015’s The Hateful Eight one of the most recent, according to Comscore). Thats’ unlike, say, distributors of Killers Of The Flower Moon that cracked down as some theaters spontaneously added intermissions given the length of the film (similar to The Brutalist). Arthouse theaters at least tend to like intermissions, which can be taxing on staff but pump-up concession sales and create an event mood. In any case, theaters cannot squeeze in more daily showings of a film that long with or without a 15-minute break. Will A24 bring back the intermission?
New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Boston, Austin and Seattle were The Brutalist’s other top markets as audiences across the country responded with sold-out shows in both core city theaters and strong suburban runs, particularly in premium formats like Imax and 70mm engagements.
The film expands into a limited footprint next weekend, and again on Jan. 4 including Imax locations nationwide.
Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, the awards contender from Roadside Attractions starring Pamela Anderson, grossed an estimated $1.53 million on 870 screens.
Great reviews (95% on Rotten Tomatoes), award wins, and positive word of mouth on social have bolstered boosted Bleecker Street’s Hard Truths starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste to $165.6k at 22 theaters for a $7.5k PSA. It was a tough weather weekend with on-and-off theater shutdowns in Atlanta and Dallas and fires still raging in Los Angeles. The film moves to about 100 screens next weekend. It’s also been an awards magnet with, among others, Leigh taking the Best Screenplay Award and Jean-Baptiste Best Actress at, respectively, the National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle Galas last week.
Strand Releasing’s Extremely Unique Dynamic by Ivan Leung and Harrison Xu opened to $37k on one screen (Laemmle Noho) on a strong local grassroots campaign and strategic partnerships with local organizations in Los Angeles.
Debuting at the no. 9 spot is S. Shankar’s Indian political drama Game Changer from Shloka Entertainment. It’s just shy of $1.9 million at 800 theaters, according to Comscore.
Holdovers: Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios’ awards contender Nickel Boys by RaMell Ross grossed $112.2k at 26 theaters in a slow rollout for a cume of $578k. It expands into approximately 300 theaters next weekend.
Maura Delpero’s Italian Oscar-shortlisted Vermiglio from Sideshow/Janus Films expanded to 19 screens in its third weekend, grossing an estimated $29.7k and with a new cume of $69.7k.
The distributor’s Golden Globes Best Animated Feature-winner Flow by Gints Zilbalodis’ was back adding screens in week 8, grossing an estimated $303.4k at 247 locations for a cume of more than $3 million.