Wicked: For Good’s magical ticket sales and mega-marketing made for a very lopsided box office weekend, as expected, but one with some solid indie/specialty numbers from Rental Family to Nuremberg and Sentimental Value, all three with lauded performances and solid campaigns of their own. Rental Family and Nuremberg are nos. 5 and 8, respectively.
Rental Family from Searchlight Pictures opened to an estimated $3.3 million and will continue to hold in approximately 1,925 theaters over the Thanksgiving frame. The film has an overall A CinemaScore. PostTrak rating and recommend scores were consistent across age and gender with 61% of audiences rating the film as ‘Excellent’ and another 32% as ‘Very Good’, while 74% would ‘Definitely Recommend’ to friends/family. Audiences were split about 50-50 male and female with a wide age range for the PG-13 comedy-drama.
The debut was in line with expectations, said Searchlight distribution head Derval Whelan, noting excellent word of mouth, a bevy of festival audience awards and strong family appeal heading into “a nice long weekend with four days [for audiences] to see numerous films.”
“We are very optimistic,” she said. The film starring Brendan Fraser premiered at TIFF going on to nab festival audience awards the Chicago Film Festival, Woodstock, Middleburg, Heartland and Hawaii. It screened at BFI London, Tokyo, AFI and more. Fraser did Q&As and intros on Friday and Saturday in New York as Searchlight rolled out its usual muscular marketing across linear television, streaming and social media.
By Japanese director Hikari, Rental Family is set in modern-day Tokyo with Fraser as a struggling American actor who lands an unusual gig working for a Japanese “rental family” agency playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. The actor, who has a strong fan following from The Mummy movies, waged a comeback in 2023 when he won the Oscar for Best Actor for The Whale.
James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg from Sony Pictures Classics, starring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, passed $11 million with strong holds on a $1.2+ million gross in week 3.
Also in its third week out, Neon’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning Sentimental Valueby Joachim Trier grossed $635k for a $1.78 million cume with the film starring Stellan Skarsgard, Renate Reinsve and Elle Fanning on 151 screens.
Limited releases: Janus Films’ release of Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day expanded to 27 screens in week 3, grossing an estimated $50.9k for a cume of $190.4k.
Bleecker Street’s Rebuilding starring Josh O’Connor grossed $22.7k at 10 locations, also in week 3, for a cume of $55.8k.
Cutting Through Rocks, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Award for World Cinema Documentary, grossed $7.9k at Film Forum in NYC with sold-out shows and Q&As with directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni in conversation with guests including actor and activist Arian Moyed (Succession, Nobody Wants This) and Chelsea Clinton. Will move to Los Angeles (Laemmle Theaters) and San Francisco/Bay Area (The Roxie Theater, Smith Rafael Film Center) December 5 and additional cities into next year.
Music Box Films’ buzzy, experimental documentary Zodiac Killer Project by Charlie Shackleton debuted at $3.8k at the IFC Center. Adds dates in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, San Diego and other markets over the next few weeks.
Event: The Met: Live in HD transmission of Strauss’s Arabella with Fathom Entertainment grossed $609.4k at about 800 cinema screens for its one Saturday screening.
From Deadline.com