Awards hopefuls, an Indian film, an anime compilation and a slasher reboot populated the indie film box office as Eternity and Hamnet rounded out the domestic top 10 with Bollywood’s Dhurandhar. Demented Santa is back in Silent Night, Deadly Night, Neon’s The Secret Agent continued strong, The Met: Live in HD as always proved a reliable draw on a pre-Christmas weekend dominated by big studio and family titles.
Among new openings, Mike P. Nelson’s reboot of the 1984 Santa slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night from Cineverse is eyeing $1.1 million on 1,640 theaters.
Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny starring Mads Mikkelsen and Sophie Sloan, from Roadside Attractions, debuted to $339k on 402 screens.
Cinegalaxy opened Telugu Akhanda 2: Thaandavam in 300 theaters for a weekend debut of $366k, as per Comscore.
New limited releases saw Janus Films opened Resurrection by Bi Gan on three screens at $64.2k for a per screen average of $21.4k, among PSAs for a new Chinese film in the U.S. since the pandemic. The director hosted sold out Q&As in in NYC (Film at Lincoln Center & IFC Center) and LA (Laemmle Royal).
Atropia from Vertical, the Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize- winner for Dramatic Feature and directorial debut of directed of Hailey Benton Gates, opened to an estimated $9k at NYC’s IFC Center. The distributor’s Rosemead starring Lucy Liu banked $29k at LA’s AMC Century City for a cume of $85k in week 2. It’s among the theater’s best grossers this weekend with several sold-out shows including a Friday Q&A introduced by Geena Davis.
Holding over: Dhurandhar from Moviegoers Entertainment is no. 4 on 377 screens in week 2 with $3.45 million for the three days and a cume of $7.89 million, as per Comscore. The Hindi spy thriller by Aditya Dhar starring Ranveer Singh follows a network of criminals, informants and operatives whose lives intersect.
GKids anime Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution is no. 6 in week 2 on 1,35 screens with a $2.1 million weekend and a $14.5 million cume.
A24’s Eternity by David Freyne grossed $1.77 million on 2,067 screens in week 3 for a cume pushing $13 million.
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet from Focus Features had a nice hold, looking at $1.5 million at 749 locations for a cume of $7 million. Plans a wide wide break in January. The film continues to please with a 92% Rotten Tomatoes audience score (87% Fresh with critics).
Musical Merrily We Roll Along from Sony Pictures Classics is looking at $248.4k on 330 screens in week 2 for a cume of $2.2 million. By Maria Friedman, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez.
Neon’s The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho starring Wagner Moura grossed $234k on just 43 screens in week 3 for a cume of $488k.
Event cinema: The Met: Live in HD Saturday transmission of Giordano’s Andrea Chénier grosses $524k on about 800 creens. Conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni and starring soprano Sonya Yoncheva and tenor Piotr Beczała. Encore screenings of Andrea Chénier will playin select U.S. cinemas Dec. 17.
