Neon opened its sixth consecutive Cannes Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident by Iranian director Jafar Panahi to a $68k weekend on three screens. That’s $115k over five days following it’s Wednesday debut at Film at Lincoln Center and Film Forum in NYC, and AMC Century City in LA. The distributor has had the top Cannes prize winners since Parasite in 2019, followed by Titane (2021), Triangle of Sadness (2022), Anatomy of a Fall (2023) and Anora last year.
Panahi, who has been imprisoned in Iran several times, is Stateside for the first time in two decades for the opening, doing a flurry of Q&As. He was forbidden to travel abroad for years and had to film the darkly comic film in secret, the topic of a heartfelt conversation with Martin Scorsese at the New York Film Festival where It Was Just An Accident screened.
While every film is unique, requiring a been a nuanced campaign and release strategy, Neon has mostly opened its Cannes winners in the same timeframe and subtitled U.S. releases like Triangle Of Sadness and Anatomy Of A Fall a slow rollout, a pattern it will follow with It Was Just An Accident screened recently. Neon also sees Sony Pictures Classics’ opening of awards magnet I’m Still Here by Walter Salles last year as a nice comparison.
The Cannes prize signifies something special and brings out a core audience quickly. Neon is looking for a snowball effect with strong press and word of mouth as the season picks up. Accident will add a couple more runs in LA and open in San Francisco and a few other markets next week but is keeping a small footprint, trusting to awards buzz to help build a long tail for a film that’s not just a hopeful Best Picture and Best Director as well as International Feature.
New indie openings by gross (screen counts vary widely): Angel Studios’ latest, Truth & Treason, was no. 6 this weekend in about 2,100 theaters with $2.7 million for the WW2 drama.
Viva opened animated family adventure Pets on a Train in 1,300 locations to $814k.
The Met: Live In HD’s transmission of Bellini’s La Sonnabula grossed an estimated $626k on about 800 screens for its solo Saturday show, ranking no., 9 for the day. Presented by Fathom Entertainment and the Met.
Prathyangira Cinemas opened Dude in 275 locations to a debut of $600.1k, as per Comscore. Stars Pradeep Ranganathan.
The Mastermind from Mubi opened at 5 theaters to $104k for a PTA of $20.8k. The drama starring Josh O’Connor represents a career high opening for director Kelly Reichardt.
Ethan Hawke-starring Bue Moon from Sony Pictures Classics saw $67k on five screens.
F*** My Son from Cartuna, X-rated and one of the most divisive films of the year, opened at the IFC Center in NYC to $8.5k from four late-night shows after screening at TIFF Midnight Madness, Fantastic Fest, Beyond Fest and Sitges. Expands to the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown LA next weekend, ahead on a theatrical roadshow opening in one new city each week. Cartuna says it’s booked through early February.
By keeping this movie screening in movie theaters for as long as possible, “we’re working to build an audience gradually,” said director Todd Rohal (Uncle Kent 2). “Thankfully, movie houses like IFC Center have a history of midnight programming dating back to the heyday of the Waverly and can see the risk-reward benefit of screening a film as out-there as F*** My Son!”
Holdovers: Amazon MGM’s After The Hunt starring Julia Roberts grossed $1.56 million in a week 2 expansion to 1,238 locations for an estimated cume of $1.77 million.
IFC’s Good Boy added $555k in week 3 at 1,020 theaters for a cume of $6.1 million.
Jennifer Lopez-starring Kiss Of The Spider Woman from Roadside Attractions is at an estimated $181.9k gross on 740 screens in week 2 for a $1.44 million cume.
Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You from A24, staring Rose Byrne, grossed $171.5 on 25 screens in a week 2 expansion for a $301.8k cume.