One of the year’s top Oscar contenders enjoyed the year’s top limited-release opening over the weekend.
Neon debuted Sean Baker‘s “Anora” in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, earning more than $540,000 over the three-day frame — good for a per-screen average of more than $90,000 per venue. That’s the largest per-screen average of the year and the best platform debut in 16 months.
“We’re incredibly excited about this weekend’s record-breaking results and the fantastic critical and audience response to Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning film ‘Anora.’ Baker is a singular director who truly understands the power of the theatrical experience and how important it is for films to be seen in the theater,” Neon said in a statement. “With Mikey Madison in her unparalleled performance as Anora, and the film’s strong awards potential, there’s no doubt it will continue to captivate a broad audience as we move into the fall.”
“Anora” stars Madison (2022’s “Scream”) as the title character, a Brighton Beach, Brooklyn exotic dancer and sex worker, whose ability to speak Russian gets her paired with young Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), who happens to be the spoiled rich son of a Russian oligarch. When Anora and “Vanya” decide to get married in Vegas, his parents send some goons to find them and annul the marriage in what turns into an all-night foray across Brighton Beach and Coney Island.
Baker’s film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and won the coveted Palme d’Or prize. In the months since “Anora” has become one of the year’s buzziest titles. Reviews have been almost unanimously positive ever since. It has also continued its festival run with screenings and premieres at Telluride, the Toronto International Film Festival (where it placed third in the audience award voting), and the New York Film Festival. It currently sits at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes even having still not played for critics in many territories outside the biggest U.S. cities. For well over a month, it’s also become the favorite from both Gold Derby experts and users to win Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.
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Although many other indie films and festival favorites have been given nationwide releases right off the bat, Neon decided to take a different route by “platforming” Baker’s film, which means giving it a smaller release in two of the larger moviegoing cities, New York and L.A.
For comparison, two other recent films have had platform releases, as Sony decided to go that route with Jason Reitman‘s “Saturday Night” and A24 has started doing that more and more with its releases, including the drama, “We Live in Time,” starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. “Saturday Night” was originally planned for a wide release on October 11, but Sony decided to platform it in New York and L.A., taking a similar approach by just releasing it in five theaters. It brought in $270.5k, averaging $54,097 per location, and then it expanded into 21 theaters the following weekend, where it made roughly the same amount. When it expanded into 2,309 theaters a few weekends back, it barely made a mark with just $3.4 million and wound up in the bottom half of the Top 10.
On the other hand, “We Live in Time” opened in five theaters that same weekend, averaging $46,623, but it had a solid expansion this weekend into 985 theaters where it got a nice bump into fifth place with $4.2 million, averaging $4,250. That’s a rare example of a movie taking advantage of word-of-mouth from a platform release and then going wider faster, and that also paid off. Unlike that drama, “Sing Sing” – another presumptive Best Picture nominee – hasn’t even made $3 million domestically, as A24 has yet to have it playing in more than 191 theaters nationwide.
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Here’s another recent example: Last year, Wes Anderson‘s “Asteroid City” opened in six theaters in June, one month after its own Cannes debut. It made $854k, an average of $142,230, with lesser reviews than “Anora.” That also had a much better-known director in Anderson and his traditionally star-studded ensemble cast. A week later, it expanded into 1,675 theaters and brought in $9 million in its first weekend of wide release but ultimately ended up with just $28.2 million. That was more than 2021’s “The French Dispatch” (not helped by COVID) but less than many of Anderson’s other movies. “Asteroid City” also didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination.
Neon is likely to continue rolling “Anora” out slowly over the next few weeks, and hopefully, it can be semi-nationwide before the “Wicked,” “Gladiator 2” and “Moana 2” juggernauts dominate movie screens. In the case of “Anora,” it might be a wise move to slow-roll its release so that when it starts receiving inevitable critical awards and nominations in early December, it will still be in theaters for those who might be curious about it.
We’ll have to see how Neon approaches this one since reactions to the movie are so overwhelmingly positive that “Anora” only needs $6 million to become Baker’s highest-grossing movie.
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