Indies Thrive as The Brutalist Targets Event Cinema

 It’s been a great year for the indie industry, and things are still looking up. As we see plenty of strong action at the specialty box office, the Venice Film Festival's darling, The Brutalist, is even gearing up to net itself a slice of the event cinema pie. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment lawyer Los Angeles, Brandon Blake, has the in-depth story for us.


                                                Brandon Blake

 

The Brutalist Goes Big

 

It’s not always that we see an over 3-hour long epic period indie film have much of a breakout— but The Brutalist is making it work. This last weekend, the film went into limited expansion, managing to pull in $1.39M from just 68 screens. Add to that its recent successes at the Golden Globes, and you certainly have a reason to celebrate.

 

Nor are A24 content to expand the film’s run and hope. Much as we’ve seen for far larger films, they’ve gone all-in on offering opening weekend perks at selected screenings with limited-edition goodies thematic to the film’s subject matter. They also brought back the theatrical intermission— probably a fantastic decision given the film’s lengthy run time, at least for their audience’s bladders.

 

A Great Specialty Weekend

 

Nor is The Brutalist alone in its indie successes. Hard Truths had a surprisingly successful opening despite only showing at 22 theaters amid a very difficult time for audiences, both in LA and down south. The Last Showgirl managed to crack the Top 10 list on its first weekend, earning $1.53M across 870 screens, and Nosferatu, Babygirl, and A Complete Unknown continue to thrive.

 

The Brutalist also isn’t the only indie hoping to mine the successes blockbusters have seen by offering theatrical audiences an “event” experience and leveraging smart marketing. Extremely Unique Dynamic probably isn’t on anyone’s radar, no matter how much of a cinephile you may be, yet it managed a thoroughly respectable $37K from a single screen off the back of a grassroots local marketing campaign and smart partnerships.

 

The indie industry is thriving currently, and with distributors and marketers increasingly willing to find novel ways to attract their audiences, this trend is set to grow. Who knows what further creativity we will see— but it will be exciting to see it unfold, for sure.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Kung Fu Panda 4 the Key to a Reinvigorated 2024 Box Office?

Image
 With Dune: Part Two having finally powered up the 2024 box office, it's time to build on that impetus if the wider box office recovery is to continue. There could be another strong contender lurking in the wings for this weekend’s releases- but it will doubtless surprise you to learn that this hope lies with the fourth installment of the animated Kung Fu Panda saga! Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney Los Angeles , Brandon Blake, has more on this ironic twist for us.                                                                          Brandon Blake Two $40M Grosses on the Cards For the first time since July 2023 and the Barbenheimer dual release, we have a chance at not one, but two, films grossing over $40M this weekend. In fact, those figures may top $50M! While Dune: Part Two...
Read more

Netflix Ad Tier Turns in Fantastic Growth

Image
 What a difference half a year can make! With Netflix’s ad-supported subscription tier first launched only 18 months ago, the streamer has managed to nearly double its subscriber base since the start of 2024. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment lawyer , Brandon Blake, fills in the details. Brandon Blake Impressive Subscriber Gains Netflix’s total subscribers for the ad-supported tier now number 40 million monthly active users. In January 2024, it was 23 million. The streamer was understandably gleeful to reveal this news at its first in-person Upfronts presentation in New York earlier this month. At its first-ever Upfronts presentation, which was held digitally in 2023, the ad tier had 5 million monthly active users.   Additionally, we were told that 40% of active signups now opt for the ad-supported plan, in countries where it is currently available. Of course, much of this can be attributed to a rather kind price ($7 domestically) for this tier, well below most of ...
Read more

Hulu on Disney+ is Officially Here

Image
While the Hulu on Disney+ Beta bundle has been live since last year, we have officially reached the point of full integration. Intriguingly, much of the executive focus on the new bundle has been around the technical advancements needed to unite the two platforms. You could take a look at entertainment lawyer Brandon Blake, from Blake & Wang P.A., looks in more depth at the united offering.                                              Brandon Blake Technical Advancements While few viewers are likely to know (or care, frankly) about the backstage technology that powers their viewing experience, Disney executives have been keen to hammer home the potential for happier, healthier subscriber engagement and retention with the new tech shift. They have gone as far as to call it the “most extensive technical advancement” since launch. At this point, it is clear that they ...
Read more