Celine Song’s Past Lives from A24 is very much here and now, grossing $232k on four screens for over $58k per location, a nice number for Song’s debut film as the second-biggest limited opening of the year so far. A24 also had the highest in April with Beau Is Afraid at $80k per theater at four locations, testament to helmer Ari Aster’s devoted fan base.
Song’s love story was a Sundance favorite and is high scoring (96% Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh with critics; 92 Metacritic Must-See). The distributor says 18 shows were sold out among the four opening theaters through Saturday amid strong exit polls. The film starring Greta Lee and Teo Yoo as childhood friends who reuinte will roll out into top markets over the next few weeks ahead of a nationwide expansion on June 3.
Event cinema: Fathom Events’ SUGA / Agust D TOUR ‘D-DAY’ in JAPAN: LIVE Viewing by the BTS member and global pop icon grossed $1.247 million in 835 locations on Saturday only for a per-theater average of $1,493 and a no. 9 spot at the domestic box office. Numbers courtesy of Comscore. The concert was captured live from PIA Arena MM in Kanagawa, Japan, and brought to theaters later that day. SUGA released his first solo mixtape, Agust D, in 2016, followed by D-2 in 2020. His most recent solo album, D-DAY, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
BTS, currently on hiatus, has provided among the top-grossing moments ever in event cinema. In 2022, BTS Permission To Dance On Stage – Seoul: Live Viewing from Trafalgar and Hybe broke the global event cinema record with a gross of $6.84 million for North America and $32.6 million worldwide. BTS: Yet To Come – a film of the group’s last concert in October opened at no. 5 in North America in February (also with Trafalgar).
Other openings: Kandahar from Open Road/Briarcliff is looking at a projected three-day gross of $765k on 1,737 screens, revised up by the distributor after the R-rated, Gerard Butler action film took in $310k on Saturday, which was a bit better than expected.
Capelight Pictures The Roundup: No Way Out – the third installment of the successful South Korean action franchise — earned a projected $200k at 41 locations. Directed by Sang-yong Lee. Starring Don Lee, Lee Jun-hyuk and Munetaka Aoki.
Holdovers: A24’s You Hurt My Feelings by Nicole Holofcener with Julia Louis-Dreyfus grossed an estimated $769,814 in 912 theaters in week two, cracking top ten again (at no. 10). Domestic cume through Sunday is passing $3 million.
Neon’s Sanctuary jumped to 215 locations to 225 for an estimated gross of $183k and domestic cume through Sunday of $337,351.
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