A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies hit theaters with the per-screen average this weekend in a limited opening, and the second best of the year. That record was set last spring with Everything Everywhere All at Once as the indie distributor piles up successes.
Halina Reijn’s Gen-Z whodunnit comedy grossed $226,526 on six screens in NY and LA for a PSA of $37,754. Everything Everywhere opened to over half a million dollars on 10 screens in NYC, LA and San Francisco in late March for a PSA of $50,965, a pre-Covid kind of number.
Bodies, a fresh take on the murder mystery in a stormy house party game gone awry, with a young ensemble cast of Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Pete Davidson, Rachel Sennott and Lee Pace, expands to about 1,200 screens next weekend.
The film, which premiered at SXSW, had sellouts on both coasts where it played NYC’s Lincoln Square, Union Square, Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn, and LA’s AMC Century City, Grove and Burbank. With a 91% from critics and an 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Bodies looks well set up for a strong run through the rest of summer and beyond for A24, which has had tremendous success slinging arthouse fare for key younger demos.
Breakdown: Friday – $94,762; Saturday – $71,224; Sunday – $60,540.
Oscilloscope’s Claydream, Marq Evans’ documentary about Oscar-winning claymation pioneer Will Vinton, grossed a solid $4,550 in an exclusive opening at New York’s Quad Cinema, easily taking the spot in complex. It expands to LA next week, as well as Portland. where Will Vinton Studios was based and the film has hefty presales. It’s 100% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Claydream will have a full theatrical window and expand to top markets throughout August and beyond.
Holdovers: Focus Features presentation of Blumhouse’s Vengeance grossed $710,000 (-60%) in week two in 1,001 theaters for an estimated cume to date of $3.3 million.
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris, also from Focus, grossed an estimated $560,000 (-40%) at 669 theaters in week four for a domestic cume of $8 million.
Focus and the Angelika Film Center just announced an initiative call “See More To Earn More” that gives members of the cinema chain’s new, free loyalty program bonus points, popcorn and merchandise for seeing Focus Features films including Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Vengeance and upcoming Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (Sept. 2), The Silent Twins (Sept. 16); TÁR (Oct. 7), Armageddon Time (Oct. 28) and Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies (Dec. 2).
Bleecker Street’s A Love Song, in week two, earned $19,075 on 18 screens for a weekend PSA of $1,059 and a domestic cume through Sunday of $40,375.
Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick from Utopia grossed $20,195 in week two on 54 screens for a PSA of $374 and cumulative gross of $42,968.
Back to A24, Marcel The Shell With Shoes On took in $318,150 on 498 screens in week seven for a cumulative gross of $4.91 million. Everything Everywhere — the distributors highest grossing film ever — stood at at $129,350 on 347 screens in week 20 for a cume of $69.5 million.