A24’s Babygirl Shifts to Max After Lengthy Theatrical Window
As the post-pandemic box office recovery accelerated over the past 2 years, we’ve seen over and over again how a smart theatrical release can drive extra value and marketing for streaming releases. After one of the longest theatrical windows of the modern entertainment era, A24’s Babygirl is finally shifting over to streaming on Max. To tell us more, we have Brandon Blake, best entertainment lawyers in Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.
121-Day Window
Although there is, strictly
speaking, no set modern theatrical window as we once saw, with 90 days being
the then-standard, we have seen the post-pandemic period slowly default to
either 45-day runs or 31-day runs in general. However, there have been plenty
of outliers, from Dune and its
lengthier windows through to limited releases purely for awards season clout.
However, A24’s choice of a
121-day theatrical window for Babygirl
is by far one of the longest we’ve seen to date. First released on Christmas
Day 2024, by the time it shifts to Max on April 25 this year, it will have
spent almost a third of a year exclusively on theater screens. To date, the
film has taken $28.1M in the US and $63.8M globally— not too bad for a film
with a $20M budget.
Awards Attention
A24 debuted Babygirl at Venice, subsequently seeing
several Golden Globes and other award nominations for lead actress Nicole
Kidman, who even took home the Venice Volpi Cup for the film. With strong
critical acclaim as well, it’s been a strong performer for the indie studio.
Unlike with the Dune movies, it’s not entirely clear why
A24 opted for such a long theatrical window for the film, other than the fact
that audience demand was (encouragingly) there for it. However, it will be
intriguing to see how the lengthy exposure to public imagination performs for
it once it makes the streaming shift.
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