Prize-winners and buzzy titles from Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Sundance performed solidly at the arthouse and specialty North American box office in 2023, with particularly strong per theatre averages (PTA).
Data provided by ComScore through December 20 confirm the value of high-profile festival berths as a way of creating audience awareness and engagement.
Cannes selections account for one of the top 10 and one quarter of the top 20 opening weekend PTA scores, led by Wes Anderson’s Competition selection Asteroid City. The ensemble drama opened over the June 16-18 weekend through Focus Features to $853,382 from six locations for a dazzling $142,230 PTA.
That makes Asteroid City the top PTA performer of the year against any film, as well as: the highest PTA since La La Land scored $176,220 in December 2016; the best PTA ever for a film opening in six sites; and the best PTA of all time for Focus Features, overtaking Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom on $130,700 from four in May 2012.
Anderson is a PTA specialist and his record remains The Grand Budapest Hotel on $202,791 in May 2014 through what was then called Fox Searchlight – one of the highest PTAs of all time. Numbers are not adjusted for inflation.
Asteroid City’s $28.2m running total following a wide expansion makes it the second highest grossing specialty sector release for the year to date behind Hayao Miyazaki’s December 8 release The Boy And The Heron on $31.3m and counting via GKids.
Venice world premieres appeared twice in the top 10 PTA scores of the year, while there were two from Telluride, two from Sundance, and one each from Toronto and SXSW. These festivals accounted for 16 of the top 20.
Neon pounced on Justine Triet’s French-, German- and English-language Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall starring Oscar hopeful Sandra Huller shortly after the world premiere and released the mystery drama over October 13-15 to $117,848 for a $23,570 PTA from five sites.
Anatomy Of A Fall ranks 19th in the top 20 PTA pantheon for the year to date, and after expanding to a high of 583 theatres it stands at $3.7m with the possibility of further expansion after the Golden Globes ceremony on January 7, 2024, and Oscar nominations on January 23, 2024.
Jonathan Glazer’s German-language UK Oscar submission The Zone Of Interest won the Cannes grand prix and opened via A24 over December 15-17 to $129,934 from four theatres, producing the biggest four-theatre opening gross for a film not in the English language since Bong Joon Ho’s South Korean best picture Oscar winner Parasite opened in 2019.
Zone’s opening weekend delivered a $32,484 PTA to rank eleventh. It currently stands at $210,301 and made the cut for the 15-strong shortlist of international feature film Oscar contenders. It will expand nationwide in January.
Glazer films are few and far between. His last, Under The Skin, scored $33,288 over April 4-6 2011 when the sci-fi drama debuted on $133,154 in four via A24.
Another recent release which is gathering momentum is Yorgos Lanthimos’ Venice Golden Lion winner Poor Things from Searchlight Pictures starring Emma Stone. The feminist fantasy opened over December 8-10 on $661,230 from nine venues for a $73,470 PTA, to rank as the third highest PTA of the year to date behind Asteroid City and A24’s Beau Is Afraid from Ari Aster in second place.
Lanthimos’s The Favourite scored a superb $105,602 over the November 23-25, 2018 weekend, when it opened on $422,410 in four sites through Searchlight.
Poor Things currently stands at $5.9m after it expanded into 82 theatres in its second weekend and into 800 in the third. It looks likely to remain a potent force at the box office throughout awards season.
Dream Scenario from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli and starring Nic Cage ranks eighth on a $36,673 PTA via A24, some way ahead of Borgli’s previous US release, 2022 Cannes entry Sick Of Myself, which Utopia opened in April this year for a $10,231 PTA.
Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers starring Paul Giamatti ranks ninth. It debuted in Telluride and scored a $35,182 PTA through Focus Features. That was way ahead of 2017 release Downsizing, which opened in more than 2,600 theatres, the kind of wide release which limits PTA prospects for all but the most high-achieving studio tentpoles.
The Holdovers PTA was almost identical to that of Payne’s 2013 drama Nebraska, which scored $35,100 from a November 15-17 release via Paramount which opened on $140,401 from four and finished on $17.6m.
Sideways, Payne’s only other feature to star Giamatti, enjoyed a $51,760 PTA when it opened over October 22-14 on $207,042 in four through Fox Searchlight. The road movie finished on $71.5m in North America. Payne’s biggest hit in North America, 2011’s The Descendants, earned a $41,037 PTA from $1.2m in 29 sites over the November 18-20 session through Searchlight. The drama ended on $82.6m.
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla starring Venice Volpi Cup winner Cailee Spaeny ranks 10th in the PTA chart on $33,035. It opened over the October 27-29 weekend through A24 for a $132,139 three-day weekend from four sites and has done well, earning $20.8m.
Coppola’s last release of note, The Beguiled in 2017, delivered an excellent PTA in its June 23-25 opening weekend of $57,323 after a $229,292 haul from four initial venues through Focus Features.
Searchlight just released Andrew Haigh’s awards hopeful and multi-Bifa winner All Of Us Strangers over December 22-24 on $119,000 from four to deliver a $29,750 PTA, placing the fantasy drama 14th in the year’s PTA pantheon.
Michel Franco’s drama and Venice premiere Memory also opened over Christmas weekend on a very solid $18,178 via Ketchup Entertainment after a $36,356 launch in two sites, which was not quite enough to make it into the top 20 PTA performers of the year to date.
Top 10 opening weekend per theatre averages of 2023
| Rank | Film (distributor) | Opening weekend gross / (release date) | Opening weekend locations | Locations at widest release | Opening weekend average | Cumulative box office (as of Dec. 25) |
| 1. | Asteroid City (Focus Features) | $853,382 (June 16) | 6 | 1,901 | $142,230 | $28.2m |
| 2. | Beau Is Afraid (A24) | $320,396 (April 14) | 4 | 2,125 | $80,099 | $7.4m |
| 3. | Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures) | $661,230 (December 8) | 9 | 800 | $73,470 | $5.9m |
| 4. | Past Lives (A24) | $232,266 (June 2) | 4 | 906 | $58,067 | $10.9m |
| 5. | Theater Camp (Searchlight Pictures) | $301,220 (June 14) | 6 | 555 | $50,203 | $4m |
| 6. | Bottoms (MGM) | $461,052 (August 25) | 10 | 1,265 | $46,105 | $12m |
| 7. | Saltburn (MGM) | $322,651 (November 17) | 7 | 1,566 | $46,093 | $10.8m |
| 8. | Dream Scenario (A24) | $220,035 (November 10) | 6 | 1,578 | $36,673 | $5.6m |
| 9. | The Holdovers (Focus Features) | $211,093 (October 27) | 6 | 1,601 | $35,182 | $17.8m |
| 10. | Priscilla (A24) | $132,139 (October 27) | 4 | 2,361 | $33.035 |
$20.9m |
- Figures provided by ComScore as of December 20, 2023, except cumultaive box office (as of December 25, 2023)
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