The new spark of life that the specialty box office saw last weekend has found more momentum this weekend with the release of A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which was released in 10 theaters this weekend and has earned the best per theater average of any film since “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
A24 reported an estimated total of $509,659 for an average of just under $51,000 for the weekend. By comparison, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” had a per screen average of just under $60,000 thanks to its historic $260 million opening in wide release in December.
Meanwhile, A24 opted to take the traditional path with a platform launch for “Everything Everywhere” after the film won overwhelming acclaim from its premiere at SXSW in Austin. The result is the best average for a limited release film since MGM’s Oscar contender “Licorice Pizza” earned $55,832 during its initial New York/Los Angeles run in early December.
Directed by Daniel Scheinert and Dan Kwan (“Swiss Army Man”), “Everything Everywhere All at Once” stars Michelle Yeoh as a laundromat owner whose business is audited by the IRS and her relationship with her estranged husband and daughter is frayed, pushing her to the end of her rope. And that’s before she’s met by an FBI agent (Jamie Lee Curtis), who reveals a multiverse filled with infinite alternate versions of herself and her family. The film holds a sterling 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
On the opposite end of the spectrum — both in screen counts and box office fortunes — is Bleecker Street’s “Infinite Storm,” which hit screens in 1,525 theaters but only grossed an estimated $751,296 for an average of just $493. The film stars Naomi Watts as a mountain climber who must survive a seemingly never-ending blizzard with a stranded stranger on Mount Washington. It has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 59%.
Also opening this weekend is Sony Pictures Classics’ “Mothering Sunday” with $10,706 grossed from five theaters for an average of $2,141. The Cannes-selected adaptation of Graham Swift’s period romance novel stars Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth and will roll out nationwide through mid-April. It has a 79% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Among holdovers, Crunchyroll’s anime film “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” earned $4.5 million in its second weekend to stay in the Top 5 and post a total of $26.3 million. While that figure is a 75% drop from its opening weekend, such a drop was to be expected, as anime films tend to be frontloaded with little support beyond hardcore fans that show up in very strong numbers upon release.
Focus Features’ “The Outfit” added $560,000 in its second weekend for a total of $2.73 million, while Zee Studios’ “The Kashmir Files” added $600,000 for a total of $3.5 million. That total was outstripped by fellow Indian film “RRR,” which came in third place among all films this weekend and earned an estimated $9.5 million from event release ticket sales.