‘Joyland’ Rocks Film Forum In Solid Arthouse Weekend – Specialty Box Office
09.04.2023 - 21:49
/ deadline.com
Oscilloscope Laboratories’ Cannes Jury Prize Winner and Independent Spirit international film winner Joyland led New York’s Film Forum to one of its biggest opening weekends for a foreign language film in nearly a decade, taking in north of $21k on one screen, the distributor said. Buoyed by strong reviews and strategic marketing, the film by Saim Sadiq sold out nine showtimes, with the theater adding additional shows.
The first Pakistani film to officially compete at Cannes it screened in Un Certain Regard winning the Jury Prize then playing at TIFF, Sundance and New Directors/New Films. It is still banned in much of Pakistan due to themes of queerness and inclusiveness. Expands to LA on April 21, then to top 50 markets and beyond.
It was a decent weekend for specialty and arthouse fare with some solid openings amid lots of competition, including from wide-release adult fare like Air. That relatively speaking, since Covid hit the box office, older and arthouses audiences are still the slowest to return to theaters.
The widest was Paint from IFC Films starring Owen Wilson, which grossed $750k on just over 800 screens. The Brit McAdams’ film, with Wilson playing a Bob Ross-like host of a Vermont public television instructional art show, is no. 9 at the domestic box office.
Neon presented How To Blow Up A Pipeline in 12 locations to a nice $120.5k weekend debut for a PTA of $10k. The R-rated eco-thriller by Daniel Goldhaber stars Sasha Lane, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Jake Weary, Forrest Goodluck and Ariela Barer.
A24 opened Showing Up in four locations in NY/LA to a strong weekend debut of $66.9k, for a per-theater-average of $16.7k. Indie auteur Kelly Reichardt reunites with Michelle Williams in art school comedy