A weekend light on new studio tentpoles is seeing a run of indies in moderate to wide release like Ron Howard’s Eden, Relay and Honey, Don’t! with well reviewed limited debuts for Lurker and Splitsville and unexpected dueling animations from A24 (Ne Zha 2 rerelease) and Netflix (Kpop Demon Hunters – A Singalong Event).
Ne Zha 2 is back, on 2,100 screens. The Chinese box office sensation released in February may have made a dent Stateside too if it had been dubbed like this version that’s running across North America including on Imax and other premium large formats for its English-language debut featuring Michelle Yeoh.
The film by Yu Yang, which ranks as the highest-grossing animated film ever, the highest-grossing non-English-language film in history, and the fifth highest-grossing film of all time, first came out in Mandarin with English subtitles. The hope is that the wide rerelease can reintroduce the film to a new audience.
Ne Zha is up against a surprise Netflix entrant this weekend in a sing-along version of the streamer’s popular animated movie Kpop Demon Hunters at about 1,700 theaters on Saturday and Sunday. As Deadline reported, it’s looking at a no. 1 win with around $15 million or more this weekend.
Ron Howard’s survival thriller and passion project Eden, from Vertical, is on 664 screens. The film – see Deadline review — unravels the shocking true story of a group of disillusioned outsiders (Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl and Sydney Sweeney) who abandon civilization in the first half of the 1930s, settling on a remote, uninhabited island only to discover that the greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other. As tensions spiral and desperation takes hold, a twisted power struggle unfolds, leading to betrayal, violence, and the deaths of half the colony.
Howard became fascinated with the true story during a family trip to the Galapagos Islands and it stuck with him for years, coming to life when he connected with screenwriter Noah Pink. Produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Karen Lunder, Stuart Ford, William M. Connor and Patrick Newall, it played as the Mystery Movie Monday showcase Aug 18 on 1,130+ screens.
Bleecker Street debuts David Mackenzie’s whistleblower thriller Relay at 1,400 theaters. Premiered at TIFF. Deadline review here. Stars Riz Ahmed as a world-class “fixer” who specializes in brokering lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten their ruin. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. But when a message arrives one day from a potential client (Lily James), needing his protection to stay alive, the rules start to change. Also stars Sam Worthington. Written byJustin Piasecki. See Worthington and Mackenzie on reteaming for the film at Deadline’s Toronto Studio.
Focus Features is out with Ethan Coen’s Honey, Don’t! at circa 1,300 locations. At $520k from Thursday previews, it’s tracking to gross $3 to $4 million this weekend. The comic noir world premiered at Cannes, see Deadline review, closing out the event with a Midnight Screening. Stars Margaret Qualley toplines as Honey O’Donahue, a small-town private investigator who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.
Mubi opens psychological thriller Lurker, the directorial debut of Alex Russell (writer-producer on The Bear and Beef), at four theaters in New York (Regal Union Square and AMC Lincoln Square) and LA (AMC The Grove and AMC Century City). World premiered at this year’s Sundance. It’s Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98% critics’ score, probably the best reviewed new opening. Also played Berlin and was the closing film in NYC’s New Directors/New Films. Expands to major markets next weekend and nationally on September 5.
When a twenty-something retail clerk encounters a rising pop star, he takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. But as the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become a matter of life and death in this parasocial, paranoid film where online fixation meets reality. Stars Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri and Sunny Suljic. Score By Kenny Beats, Dijon, Rex Orange County; Performed by Archie Madekwe.
Neon debuts Michael Angelo Covino’s comedy Splitsville at 5 theaters across NY (AMC Lincoln Square, Angelika Film Center, Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn) and LA (AMC The Grove, AMC Century City), expanding nationwide on September 5. Written by Covino and Kyle Martin (The Climb), the film world premiered as an official selection at this year’s Cannes Film Festival to an eight-minute standing ovation, see Deadline review.
After Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs to his friends, Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (Covino), for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage — until Carey crosses the line. Splitsville was filmed on 35mm and is playing all weekend on 35mm at the Angelika Film Center in New York.
Neon acquired U.S. rights to the film and came on to produce in August 2024.
Well Go USA opens war epic Dongji Rescue at 68 locations in U.S. and Canada. Inspired by the real story of the rescue by Chinese fisherman of British POWs from a WWII shipwreck off the coast of Zhejiang province in China, it is co-directed by Cannes award-winning filmmaker Guan Hu (Black Dog, The Eight Hundred), who is renowned for his large-scale war epics, and Fei Zhen Xiang. Dongji Rescue is based on the true story of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese cargo ship transporting around 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong when it was wrongly torpedoed by an American submarine in October 1942, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters involving British servicemen during the war. Over 800 survivors escaped certain death thanks to the spontaneous rescue of Chinese fishermen from nearby Dongji Island. Stars Zhu Yilong, Wu Lei, Ni Ni and William Franklyn-Miller.
Utopia’s Circle Collective opens coming of age indie Pools, the feature debut of writer-director Sam Hayes, at the Music Box in Chicago on August 22, followed by the Quad Cinema in New York and the NuArt in Los Angeles on August 29. A nationwide expansion to follow on September 5. The film starring Odessa A’zion (A24’s upcoming Marty Supreme) took the Audience Award at its world premiere at SXSW Sydney 2024, going on to sell out its North American premiere at TIFF Next Wave.
Pools dives into the chaotic life of Kennedy, a rebellious college student who has one day to get her life together or face expulsion. Rather than conform, she recruits a misfit crew for a spontaneous night of pool hopping through the lavish backyards of her college town. With Mason Gooding, Ariel Winter, Tyler Alvarez, Francesca Noel, Michael Vlamis and Suzanne Cryer.
Factory 25 is releasing Or Something co-written by and co-starring Kareem Rahma (Subway Takes, Poker Face) and Mary Neely (Valley Girl, Happiness For Beginners) at the Quad for a weeklong run and in LA Sept 14 for a special engagement at Braindead. The directorial debut of Jeffrey Scotti follows two strangers who arrive at a friend’s New York apartment to collect a significant amount of cash they think they’re both owed, starting a freewheeling walk-and-talk across the city.
Quiver Distribution opens We Strangers at Lumiere Cinema in Beverly Hills. Debut feature director Anu Valia is doing Q&A all weekend with moderators Nisha Ganatra (Freakier Friday), Josh Ruben (Heart Eyes) and Andrew DeYoung (Friendship) on Fri., Sat. and Sun. respectively. In gritty Gary, Indiana, quick-witted cleaner Rayelle (Kirby Howelle-Baptiste) takes a strange new job that spirals into the surreal when she claims she can speak to the dead. As her lie spins into power, secrets, and chaos, Rayelle must decide how far she’ll go to hold onto control. Premiered at SXSW 2024.