‘Kinds of Kindness’ Stands Out at Busy Specialty Box Office With $70,000 Theater Average

While Disney is ruling the box office with Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” it is also getting a win in the specialty market thanks to Searchlight Pictures and Yorgos Lanthimos, whose newest film “Kinds of Kindness” has the top theater average of 2024 with $350,000 from five theaters for a $70,000 average.

Filmed during post-production on Lanthimos’ Oscar-winning “Poor Things,” “Kinds of Kindness” sees the director do another round with the stars of that sci-fi film, Oscar winner Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. But the film also marks a return to the bleaker, more darkly satirical stories that made Lanthimos a big name in world cinema prior to his mainstream success, as he reunites with longtime co-writer Efthimis Filippou.

Premiering at Cannes, “Kinds of Kindness” did not get as glowing praise as “Poor Things” last year, but was still generally well received with a 73% Rotten Tomatoes score. The film will roll out to approximately 500 theaters next weekend and will be released overseas in July and August.

Meanwhile, other top films from specialty distributors opted for wider releases, the highest performing being Focus Features/New Regency’s “The Bikeriders” with a $10 million opening weekend from 2,642 theaters, good enough for third on this weekend’s charts. The film was initially set for a release last December by 20th Century Studios, but switched to a summer release by Focus after 20th Century pulled the film due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Starring Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy and Austin Butler, the Jeff Nichols-directed crime drama follows a biker club as it descends into criminality, forcing its newest member to choose between his club and the strong-willed woman he has fallen in love with. The film has an 81% Rotten Tomatoes score and a B on CinemaScore, and is looking to leg out as it sports a $40 million budget financed by New Regency.

Also hitting theaters this weekend is Magnolia Pictures’ crowd pleaser “Thelma,” starring June Squibb as a grandmother who goes on a quest to hunt down the people who scammed her out of $10,000. Released in 1,290 screens, the widest ever screen count for a Magnolia title, the movie earned a solid $2.2 million and is hoping to continue legging out with older moviegoers over the coming weeks as they discover it through word-of-mouth.

Also opening wide is the indie horror film “The Exorcism” from Vertical Entertainment, a meta narrative starring Russell Crowe an actor who plays a priest in an “Exorcist”-esque horror film only to find himself actually possessed by a demon.

“The Exorcism” boasted Vertical’s widest ever release with a count of 2,240 screens, but didn’t do much better than “Thelma” with $2.4 million grossed this weekend. Reception has also been poor with a 31% Rotten Tomatoes score and a D on CinemaScore.

Finally, Trafalgar released “Rite Here Rite Now,” the first concert film from the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost, on 756 screens for a four-day limited engagement. Over those four days, the film grossed an estimated $2.65 million, enough to put it in the top 10.

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