Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale from A24 swam to the biggest limited opening of the year in NY and LA this weekend, beating the per screen record set by in late spring by the indie distributor’s Everything, Everywhere All At Once.
The film starring Brendan Fraser sold out shows at all six theaters this weekend grossing an estimated $360,000 for a per screen average of $60,000 – the highest PSA of 2022, the second largest limited opening since 2020 and Aronofsky’s best opening since Black Swan.
Fraser’s performance has been embraced by critics and audiences starting at the world premiere in Venice earlier this year and has built throughout the fall season. Fraser, the former action star of The Mummy franchise, plays an obese English teacher struggling to reconnect with his estranged daughter. The film received a long standing ovation in Venice, echoed at Q&As throughout the weekend. Exits show extremely strong word of mouth across all audiences for Fraser and co-stars Sadie Sink and Hong Chau.
It will stay on six screens this coming weekend in advance of a moderate nationwide break on Dec. 21. The number’s still TBD but may be about 500 screens.
The grosses came at $159k Friday; $111.8k Saturday; $89k Sunday.
Opening weekends have been a hard predictor of future box office. That said, a new record is always a bright spot in a challenged and choppy specialty market.
Everything Everywhere All At Once had a $50k per screen opening and has gone on to gross over $100 million worldwide. Other big PSA’s include Searchlight Pictures’ The Banshees Of Inisherin, at $46k, as well as Tár from Focus Features and The Fabelmans from Universal, both at around $40k. All three started on four screens. Banshees is a $19 million worldwide. Tár has grossed about $5 million and The Fabelmans is at $6.5 million.
United Artist Releasing’s MGM Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1970s teen comedy Licorice Pizza posted a huge $83.8K opening screen average from four theaters in Nov. of 2021.
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