Sometimes, it’s less about the big noisy splashes than the quiet, steady drips. For the current slate at the specialty box office, that’s becoming very apparent. Two Oscar hopefuls, Poor Things and American Fiction, are quietly leaving their mark, even if it isn’t with much fanfare to accompany it. Brandon Blake, our industry-insider entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A., has some positive news to share.
Poor Things: An Eclectic Theatrical Run
In the blockbuster landscape, a $26M run isn’t much to brag about. For a specialty release with a zany premise and only 1,950 screens to power it, down from 2,400 for one week in 4 markets, it’s looking great. That’s the current state of the box office for Oscar hopeful Poor Things, which netted 11 Oscar nominations. It seems to be doing particularly well on a weekend where there was only one wide release- and that was lackluster. While that’s poor news for the wider box office kitty, it’s always nice to see a niche release get its moment in the sun. Additionally, these low, and even no-release weekends have had some fantastic knock-on effects for the specialty box office overall. That’s worth celebrating for the indie industry, too.
American Fiction: Picking Up Speed
American Fiction also netted itself 5 Oscar nominations, a credible spread for a film that hasn’t had much wide-release prominence to date. This weekend they added a few hundred new screens to the list, as part of a carefully orchestrated platform release it has done really well from. It was tracking at $12.7M before this last weekend, so should be in a strong place.
Both titles are competing with A24’s Zone of Interest (another Oscar hopeful with 5 nominations), The Promised Land, and Skin Deep. From a credible ‘mini-wide’ release from Poor Things to the more curated arthouse experience of American Fiction, things are off to a promising start for the indie industry. Let’s hope that momentum continues throughout the year.
