Neon opened its sixth consecutive Palme d’Or at Cannes It was just an accident by Iranian director Jafar Panahi to a $68,000 weekend in three theaters. That’s $115K in five days after its debut Wednesday at Film at Lincoln Center and Film Forum in New York, and AMC Century City in Los Angeles. Since then, the distributor has won the biggest awards at Cannes Parasite in 2019, followed by titan (2021), Sadness triangle (2022), Anatomy of a fall (2023) and longs last year.
Panahi, who has been imprisoned in Iran several times, is in the United States for the first time in two decades for the inauguration and conducts a series of questions and answers. He was banned from traveling abroad for years and had to secretly film this darkly humorous film, the subject of a candid conversation with Martin Scorsese at the New York Film Festival, where It was just an accident projected.
While each film is unique and requires a nuanced campaign and release strategy, Neon has mostly released its Cannes winners in the same time period and subtitled American releases as Sadness triangle and Anatomy of a fall a slow pitch, a pattern that will follow It was just an accident recently projected. Neon Also Sees Sony Pictures Classics Awards Opening Magnet I’m still here by Walter Salles last year as a good comparison.
The Cannes award means something special and quickly attracts a core audience. Neon is looking for a snowball effect with strong press and word of mouth as the season progresses. Accident will add a couple more screenings in Los Angeles and open in San Francisco and a few other markets next week, but will keep a small footprint, relying on awards buzz to help build a long tail for a film that’s not just a contender for Best Picture and Best Director, as well as International Feature.
New independent openings raw (number of screens varies widely): the latest from Angel Studios, Truth and betrayalIt was no. 6 this weekend in about 2,100 theaters with $2.7 million for the World War II drama.
Viva inaugurated an animated family adventure Pets on a train in 1,300 locations at $814,000.
The Met: live in HDBellini’s transmission. The Sonnable grossed approximately $626k on approximately 800 screens for its Saturday solo show, ranking #9 for the day. Presented by Fathom Entertainment and the Met.
Prathyangira cinemas inaugurated Dude in 275 locations with a debut of $600.1K, according to Comscore. Pradeep Ranganathan stars.
The brain by Mubi was released in 5 theaters at $104 thousand for a PTA of $20.8 thousand. The drama starring Josh O’Connor represents a milestone in the career of director Kelly Reichardt.
Ethan Hawke-starring Good Moon from Sony Pictures Classics earned $67,000 on five screens.
Fuck my son de Cartuna, an It will expand to the Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Los Angeles next weekend, with a theatrical tour opening in a new city each week. Cartuna says it is booked until early February.
By keeping this film playing in theaters for as long as possible, “we’re working to build an audience gradually,” said director Todd Rohal (Uncle Kent 2). “Fortunately, movie theaters like IFC Center have a history of midnight programming dating back to the Waverly’s heyday and can see the risk-reward benefit of showing a film as offbeat as Fuck my son!
Remains: Amazon MGM after the hunt starring Julia Roberts grossed $1.56 million in a week 2 expansion to 1,238 locations for an estimated total of $1.77 million.
IFC good boy added $555K in Week 3 in 1,020 theaters for a total of $6.1M.
Jennifer Lopez-starring kiss of the spider woman Roadside Attractions has an estimated gross of $181.9 million on 740 screens in week 2 for a cumulative $1.44 million.
Maria Bronstein If I had legs I would kick you from A24, starring Rose Byrne, grossed $171.5 on 25 screens in a Week 2 expansion totaling $301.8k.
