Oscar Contender ‘Anora’ Debuts with the Year’s Best Platform Opening

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For theaters still in shock over the historic collapse of “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.), there’s optimism with the “Smile 2” opening of $23 million and Sean Baker’s strong award contender “Anora” (Neon) becoming the year’s best platform debut. (Baker’s also joining IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking Summit November 2.)

In its third weekend, Todd Phillips’ film grossed under $2.2 million to drop another 69 percent and place sixth. With $56.4 million in, its domestic gross will fall short of $65 million. Bad for the studio and worse for the theaters that counted on another $135 million or so in box office revenue (and accompanying concessions).

With “Smile 2,” Parker Finn’s sequel to his 2022 horror success inched slightly ahead of the original’s opening weekend, which went on to gross $90 million. “Smile 2” will have a hard time replicating that, particularly with “Venom: The Last Dance” (Sony) debuting this Friday.

It faced unexpected competition from the second weekend of “Terrifier 3” (Iconic/Cineverse). Damien Leone’s low-budget sleeper came in third after a surprise $19 million #1 last week. It had a respectable hold, down 51 percent for $9.3 million ($36.2 million so far), with $50 million or better in view.

“Anora,” the Cannes Palme d’Or winner with a 93 Metacritic score (the highest among all the top Oscar contenders so far) opened in six New York/Los Angeles theaters. Its $540,000 gross led to a per-theater average of $90,000, the second highest since 2019 (“Asteroid City” last year did $142,000, also in six).

This opening comes just over five years since Neon debuted “Parasite” in three theaters, grossing $393,000. Aiding that phenomenon were two longstanding Los Angeles venues, both of which are no longer in operation. Platform gross performances have fallen sharply since then, also due to the preference for wider initial releases.

The strong start will lead to two weeks of expansion before its initial wide play on November 8. It will have about 30 theaters this Friday and face the wide release of another strong entry, Edward Berger’s “Conclave” (Focus).

Last week’s strong platform release “We Live in Time” (A24) jumped to 955 theaters, coming in fifth with just under $4.2 million. The romantic drama with Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh is fueled by an under-35 female audience and is positioned for further growth.

“The Wild Robot” (Universal) held on to second place with the smallest drop (29 percent) among top 10 holdovers. Its $10.1 million gross put it over $100 million domestic. It came out on PVOD last Tuesday and is #1 on iTunes, beating out the also just-released “Alien: Romulus.”

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (WB), also on PVOD, is fourth, with a shot to reach $300 million domestic. Among other second-week wide releases, “Piece by Piece” (Focus) is #7, off 45 percent, and “Saturday Night” (Sony) is #9, down 47 percent.

A reality check about the difficulty of launching new films. Two reissues (“The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Hocus Pocus,” both from Disney) and the fifth weekend of “The Substance” (Neon) all grossed better than three new titles. “Goodrich” (Ketchup, with Michael Keaton), “Rumours” (Bleecker Street) from Cannes and Toronto, and the well-received Sundance title “Exhibiting Forgiveness” (Roadside Attractions), each in 630-1,055 theaters, all grossed under $700,000. So did the second weekend of “The Apprentice” (Briarcliff).

Business at $71 million was slightly down from last year. To date, 2024 remains about 11 percent off 2023.

Top 10

1. Smile 2 (Paramount) NEW – Cinemascore: B; Metacritic: 66; Est. budget: $28 million

$23,000,000 in 3,619 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $6,355; Cumulative: $23,000,000

2. The Wild Robot (Universal) Week 4; Last weekend #2; also on PVOD

$10,100,000 (-28%) in 3,829 (-25) theaters; PTA: $2,638; Cumulative: $101,710,000

3. Terrifier 3 (Iconic/Cineverse) Week 2; Last weekend #1

$9,308,000 (-51%) in 2,762 (+248) theaters; PTA: $3,370; Cumulative: $36,215,000

4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.) Week 7; Last weekend #3; also on PVOD

$5,000,000 (-32%) in 3251 (-157) theaters; PTA: $1,538; Cumulative: $283,973,000

5. We Live in Time (A24) Week 2; Last weekend #18

$4,186,000 (+1,699%) in 955 (+950) theaters; PTA: $4,250; Cumulative: $4,506,000

6. Joker: Folie à Deux (WB) Week 3; Last weekend #4

$2,180,000 (-69%) in 2,857 (-1,245) theaters; PTA: $763; Cumulative: $56,443,000

7. Piece by Piece (Focus) Week 2; Last weekend #5

$2,100,000 (-45%) in 1,873 (+8) theaters; PTA: $1,873; Cumulative: $7,602,000

8. Transformers One (Paramount) Week 5; Last weekend #6

$1,965,000 (-48%) in 2,169 (-589) theaters; PTA: $906; Cumulative: $56,635,000

9. Saturday Night (Sony) Week 4; Last weekend #7

$1,800,000 (-47%) in 2,336 (+27) theaters; PTA: $771; Cumulative: $7,632,000

10. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney) REISSUE Week 2; Last weekend #9

$1,129,000 (-53%) in 1,860 (+160) theaters; PTA: $607; Cumulative: $(reissue) 4,816,000

Other specialized/independent titles

Films (limited, expansions of limited) are listed by week in release, starting with those opened this week; after the first three weeks, only films with grosses over $5,000 are listed. Metacritic scores and initial film festivals recorded when available.

Anora (Neon) NEW – Metacritic: 93; Festivals include: Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, New York 2024

$540,000 in 6 theaters; PTA: $90,000

Goodrich (Ketchup) NEW – Metacritic: 65

$625,000 in 1,055 theaters; PTA: $592

Rumours (Bleecker Street) NEW – Metacritic: 70; Festivals include: Cannes, Toronto, New York 2024

$314,082 in 630 theaters; PTA: $499

Exhibiting Forgiveness (Roadside Attractions) NEW – Metacritic: 83; Festivals include: Sundance, New Directors/New Films 2024

$275,634 in 774 theaters; PTA: $356

Union (Level Ground) NEW – Metacritic: 75; Festivals include: Sundance, New York 2024

$10,000 in 1 theater; PTA: $10,000

The Line (Utopia) NEW – Metacritic: 74; Festivals include: Tribeca 2023

$8,487 in 1 theater; PTA: $8,487