Festival Faves ‘The Holdovers’, ‘Priscilla’ Start Awards Season Runs, Open Well In Limited Release – Specialty Box Office
deadline.comAlexander Payne’s The Holdovers from Focus Features pulled in an estimated $200k on six screens in New York and LA for a per-screen average of $33.3k, a good limited opening on an upbeat specialty weekend that also saw A24’s Priscilla by Sofia Coppola off to a fine start.
We’re in anomalous times with the ongoing actors strike. The Holdovers will benefit in expansion if the work stoppage ends. Priscilla less since it has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement — although a rising tide lifts all boats.
SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are working, with both sides taking “a deep dive” into the issues in an attempt to end the 100+-day strike.
The guild was awaiting a response from studios to its latest proposal. One distributor noted that weekend festivities for Halloween (which falls on Tuesday) can pinch the weekend specialty box office a bit, especially Saturday. The Holdovers, which premiered at Telluride, scored a 91% total positive sentiment and a 81% definite recommend with audiences, Focus said (versus norms of 70% and 55%, respectively), a nice set up for an expansion nationally next week to about 60 theaters across top 20 markets.
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