Neon’s surreal crime comedy I Love Boosters opens wide for the Memorial Day holiday frame a bit crowded with The Mandalorian And Grogu, Focus Features’ breakout Obsession and studio holdovers. Boosters reviews are great, and director Boots Riley urged fans to turn out.
“We didn’t get the screen count we wanted for I Love Boosters – but we got 1700, which is good. This means: if it’s not on a screen near u tomorrow, it won’t get there- unless we blow it out on 1700, then we can get more. So- please travel to a screen even if it’s not close!” he posted on X Thursday. It’s on 1,750 screens. Neon is reporting a $430k early gross from Thursday preview and early screenings.
Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie and Taylor Paige star as a crew of Bay Area professional shoplifters and resellers of designer goods who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven played by Demi Moore. With Poppy Liu, Eiza Gonzalez, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter and Don Cheadle. Riley’s second feature (after 2018 breakout Sorry To Bother You) premiered at Sundance, Deadline review here. It’s 92% Certified Fresh with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Neon’s campaign included a merchandise collaboration at SXSW and live performance from Palmer singing two songs from the soundtrack. Palmer and Stanfield hit L.A. to personally refuel cars for a “boosted” gas giveaway with the first 70 vehicles receiving free gas and merch. Riley took the film on a tour of 11 universities.
Neon produced and financed the film, which is part of a partnership slate with Waypoint Entertainment that includes Hokum, Sentimental Value, Sirât, No Other Choice and Arco.
Black Bear is out with rom-com crime thriller Tuner on four screens in New York (AMC Lincoln Square, Regal Union Square) and L.A. (AMC Century City, AMC Grove) ahead of a rollout to 300+ locations next weekend. RT Certified Fresh at 95%, the first narrative feature by Oscar winner Daniel Roher (Navalny) stars Leo Woodall as a gifted young piano tuner whose heightened sense of hearing draws the attention of criminals who recruit him as a safecracker. His once-promising musical career over, he works across New York with mentor Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), encountering a range of characters, including composition student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu). But his safecracking work threatens their budding romance and pulls him into increasingly dangerous territory.
With Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno and Lior Raz. Screenplay by Roher and Robert Ramsey.
Premiered at Telluride, see Deadline review, going on to TIFF, BFI London and Sundance and a strategic partnership with Letterboxd, The Tuner Tour. Campaign beats included Dolby Cinema screenings in partnership with AMC theaters with an Atmos audio mix from the film’s Academy Award-winning sound designer Johnnie Burn (The Zone of Interest) on May 17.
Independent Film Company’s Saccharine, Natalie Erika James’ body horror starring Midori Francis, debuts on 385 screens. A lovelorn medical student becomes terrorized by a hungry ghost after taking part in an obscure weight-loss craze involving eating human ashes. With Danielle Macdonald and Madeleine Madden. Premiered at Sundance, see Deadline review, and played Berlin. James made her feature directorial debut at Park City with Relic six years ago.
Ask E. Jean from Abramorama, the Telluride-premiering documentary about the woman who won an $83 million civil judgment against Donald Trump after accusing him of sexually assaulting her in a New York City department store, opens at the IFC Center in New York. Adds the Nuart in Los Angeles next weekend. The film directed by Ivy Meeropol explores E. Jean Carroll’s work as a popular advice columnist and TV host and how trauma from the alleged sexual assault – for which Donald Trump was found liable – scarred her. Carroll, Miss Cheerleader USA as a teen, became a journalist, author and the first female editor at Esquire, Playboy and Outside magazine. In recent years, she ignited public discourse by beating Trump in two separate civil trials, sparking a national conversation about accountability.