The independent box office faces the dog days of August

Top Gun: Maverick This isn’t the only 2022 movie that has been over-imagined.

The second is A24 everything everywhere at the same timewhich grossed a whopping $68.3 million plus the much-needed domestic for a niche movie business that has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 crisis. everything everywhere It opened on March 25 in just 10 theaters, mostly in New York and Los Angeles.

These two cities, including San Francisco and Chicago, have always been hotbeds for indie titles that rely on word of mouth to attract viewers rather than the multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns necessary for a national launch.

everything everywhere It was so popular that it ended up playing 2,220 venues and staying on the marquee for months.

When the pandemic hit in early 2020, niche companies could no longer rely on traditional platform releases and were forced to open their movies widely from the start.

Focus Features is a prime example and currently dominates the specialty scene. Mrs. Harris is going to Paris. Focus did well, grossing around $9 million domestically after a mid-July release in 980 theaters. Other leaders in the independent space such as A24, Neon and Sony Pictures Classics have also been forced to release their titles across the country.

Tom Quinn’s Neon — Oscar Winner’s Home a parasite — He managed to return to the platform launch earlier this year at launch. the worst person in the worldthat made a solid $3 million in revenue even during the current pandemic

“The old audience is back, the cinemas are back. And platform releases are still a great way to launch a film festival or build buzz and momentum for your movie. And we’re seeing an incredible young art audience emerging,” says Neon’s head of distribution, Elisa Federoff, who is currently gearing up for the September release of Brett Morgen’s David Bowie documentary. Moon Age daydreamAmong other fall releases from Neon.

For all independent distributors, the specialty box office has been hampered especially by the closure of the independent stronghold ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, AMC is making a difference, with its various Los Angeles locations (The Grove, Century City and Burbank) offering a host of independent attractions. August is noticeably lighter this year in terms of main studio fees, allowing independent distributors to make up the difference.

A24’s Black Comedy/Slasher Photo for the Weekend of Aug 12-14 bodies bodies bodies It grossed a promising $3.2 million from 1,290 theaters after opening in just six locations the previous weekend. A24 will expand the number of venues to over 2,400 venues by the end of August due to the lack of main studio tents.

“The quality currency and preference of big niche movies may be more important than Hollywood blockbuster revenue in this slow runner to theaters until blockbusters return to multiplexes,” said Paul Dergarebedian, analyst at Comscore box office:

Dergarebedian says recent box office success stories “show us that audiences want a wide range of titles as part of their cinematic diet, not just the safe bets that fuel the industry during a pandemic.”