Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw Then TV Glow has had a successful second week at the box office, raking in an estimated $195k+ on 21 screens. This expansion for the A24 film has been impressive, driven by a passionate fan base with a skew towards a young, male, and heavily LGBTQ+ audience. The film, a gender-bending supernatural thriller, is set to continue its rollout in the coming weeks.
Breakthrough Artist Award
The director of We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun, was honored with a Breakthrough Artist award at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Boston. The award was presented during a sold-out screening attended by cast members Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine. The film follows the story of queer teens coming of age in the 1990s suburbs, obsessed with a late-night sci-fi television show.
Sideshow/Janus Films’ release of Evil Does Not Exist by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, known for Drive My Car, grossed about $102.7k on 34 screens in its second week, bringing its total to $165k. The film will expand to 60 additional screens before going national on May 24th.
The weekend saw a dominance from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, making it a challenging time for moderate releases. Vertical’s Poolman, starring Chris Pine, grossed a respectable $131k at 162 theaters. Briarcliff Entertainment’s R-rated comedy Not Another Church Movie with Jamie Foxx is estimated to make $360k playing at 1,108 locations. IFC Film’s Force of Nature: The Dry2 starring Eric Bana made $34.5k on 153 screens.
Counter-programming from Fathom Events’ presentation of MET Opera: Madama Butterfly by Puccini was successful, grossing nearly $1.1 million at 732 locations. Omjee Group’s Pollywood Shinda Shinda Ni Papa also performed well, bringing in $487k in just 102 theaters. The film, directed by Amarpreet G.S. Chhabra, is set in Canada and India, starring Gippy Gewal as Gopi, a Punjabi father facing a culture clash.
Ethan Hawke-directed Wildcat from Oscilloscope saw a modest $72k on six screens for a total of $134.4k. The film is set to expand to over 100 theaters in the upcoming week.
The box office weekend had a mix of successes and challenges, with standout performances from films catering to diverse audiences and genres. As the industry continues to recover from the impact of the pandemic, the performance of these films gives hope for the future of cinema.