IndieWire each week exclusively shares a box office chart via Rentrak looking at the top 10 releases in specialized release, presented in full with added commentary.
Neon‘s endurance test may have paid off. Alex Ullom’s “It Ends,” as released by Neon, brought in $61,287 in its opening weekend from just 5 screens for the best indie per-screen averages of what was admittedly a pretty quiet week.
But it got some of that gross from a Friday marathon screening of the film in which willing participants were asked to sit through “It Ends” on a loop for up to 36 hours for a chance at a cash prize. The screening took place August 21 at the Metro Private Cinema in New York, and Friday’s gross for the film was roughly $25K. Neon hasn’t done a ton of platform releases of late, even with some of its horror titles. Neon did open Steven Soderbergh’s “The Christophers” on just 4 screens in its opening, and it made $80K before topping out at $1.8 million domestic.
Neon though has tried to position Ullom as part of the next generation of horror auteurs, this weekend putting him on stage with “Backrooms” director Kane Parsons for a conversation and already picking up his second feature “4 X 4: The Event.” Reviews are strong, but we’ll see if this one can generate similar word of mouth buzz as it expands starting next weekend.
Neon also had the second weekend of “The Wrong Girls,” which opened to just above our threshold of 500 screens last weekend, and would’ve come in at No. 3 this week with another $77K to bring its cumulative total to $780K. “The Rivals of Amziah King” last week also graduated from this chart but is now below 500 screens again, and it has reached $1.8 million domestic.
Among new openings, Focus released an international a Polish action film starring Noomi Rapace called “Hot Spot” to just $200K from 268 screens, and the dismal reviews certainly didn’t help raise awareness, despite it being at the top of our chart this week. Greenwich Entertainment released a French comedy called “The Marching Band” that played Cannes way back in 2024, and it made $12K from just a single screen. And not reporting to Comscore was “Learning to Fly” from Chris Hemsworth’s company Wild State and distributor Unreasonable Studios. It made $31,438 with a PSA of $1,747 and would’ve placed fifth this week.
Meanwhile, films like Janus’ “The Samurai and the Prisoner” and Kino Lorber’s “Mary Oliver” doc keep chugging along, the latter of which is now in its eighth week in theaters.
Top 10 Specialized Releases 8/14-8/16 (all figures are domestic results courtesy of Rentrak)
- “Hot Spot” – $200,315
- Distributor: Focus Features
- Week: 1
- Avg/Location: $747
- Cumulative: $200,315
- “Late Fame” – $78,650
- Distributor: Magnolia
- Week: 3
- Avg/Location: $2,383
- Cumulative: $197,632
- “The Samurai and the Prisoner” – $61,905
- Distributor: Janus Films
- Week: 4
- Avg/Location: $1,190
- Cumulative: $658,147
- “It Ends” – $61,287
- Distributor: Neon
- Week: 1
- Avg/Location: $12,257
- Cumulative: $61,287
- “Mary Oliver: Saved By the Beauty of the World” – $27,129
- Distributor: Kino Lorber
- Week: 8
- Avg/Location: $969
- Cumulative: $682,031
- “Wild Inside” – $14,854
- Distributor: HBO Documentary Films
- Week: 4
- Avg/Location: $825
- Cumulative: $183,732
- “Cookie Queens” – $13,072
- Distributor: Roadside Attractions
- Week: 3
- Avg/Location: 545
- Cumulative: $605,078
- “The Marching Band” – $12,189
- Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
- Week: 1
- Avg/Location: $12,189
- Cumulative: $12,189
- “Dreams in Nightmares” – $11,110
- Distributor: Lunette Films
- Week: 1
- Avg/Location: $5,555
- Cumulative: $41,104
- “Paper Flowers” – $7,741
- Distributor: AV Entertainment
- Week: 1
- Avg/Location: $407
- Cumulative: $9,012
IndieWire’s criteria for inclusion on the Specialized Chart looks at independent and mini-major distributors with films that at their widest release at any point are below 500 screens, excluding event cinema, re-releases, and major Bollywood or Chinese North American releases.
