A24’s Sorry, Baby had a solid limited opening in 4 locations with about $86.5k (a per theater average of $21.6k) for Eva Victor’s critically acclaimed directorial debut. It was the highest psa for a new release this weekend, one dominated by big studio fare.
Sorry, Baby (Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 96%), a breakout at Sundance, is being lauded as one of the best debuts, and best films, of the year. Victor also wrote and stars in the dark comedy with Naomie Ackie and Academy Award nominee Lucas Hedges. It will continue to expand over the next few weeks and roll into the summer.
Noting the distributor’s Materialists by Celine Song continued a breakout run for a weekend gross approaching $3 million and a cume crossing $30 million in week 3 on 1,931 screens. At no. 8, it’s the only indie to hit the popping top 10 led by F1.
Hot Milk from IFC Films debuted at $40.5k at 375 locations. By Rebecca Lenkiewicz, it stars Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps, Emma Mackey and Vincent Perez
Afternoons Of Solitude, a Spanish-language, largely silent verité documentary by Albert Serra about a bullfighter over the course of several kills, waved $9.1k at once screen, Film at Lincoln Center. Spike Lee was in the house to support the Grasshopper Film release that won the top prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival and played the New York Film Festival. He praised the film in a talkback post-screening. Opens in Los Angeles on July 18 followed by a nationwide rollout.
Abramorama documentary The Last Class about Robert Reich grossed an estimated $10.6k on one screen this weekend (the Quad in NY) and the distrib is looking at a total cume of $67.7k from a full week run and additional one-off screenings of the Elliot Kirschner doc.
Holdovers: Familiar Touch from Music Box Films pulled in $21k from 15 locations in week 2. That’s a cume of $36.8k for Sarah Friedland’s directorial debut and Venice prize winner.
The broader box office is boiling with a massive ramp up in studio fare — as promised after a soft start to 2025 — leading to a surge in competition for screens and theatrical audiences. Indies are generally holding up. The more creative and strategic the rollout the better for small releases. Indies success, like studio, can only measured by box office gross in the context of acquisition and marketing costs and the ability to monetize projects like, for instance, IFC can through sister outlets like streamer Shudder.
A reliable pot of money has been flowing from iconic fare being remastered and rereleased. Every weekend brings a few and the numbers can often top limited openings for new indie films.
This week, Janus Films is projecting $52k for its remastered rerelease of Wong Kar-wai’s In The Mood For Love for its 25th anniversary. Janus said it is “thrilled … to see so many folks coming out for the theatrical experience.” The rerelease is accompanied by the rarely-seen short In The Mood For Love 2001. Expands to additional cities in coming weeks.
In its second weekend, Rialto Pictures’ release of a new restoration of the original 1979 roadshow version of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is estimated to gross $17.5k at Film Forum in NYC – a 15% jump from last weekend.
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