‘Anora’, ‘A Real Pain’ Expand, Crunchyroll’s ‘Overlord’ & ‘Small Things Like These’ – Specialty Box Office

Cannes Palm d’Or winner Anora went wide and A Real Pain added theaters in limited release, both nicely, with Crunchyroll’s Japanese epic fantasy OVERLORD: The Sacred Kingdom and Small Things Like These at the specialty box office.

Sean Baker’s breakout Anora is looking at $2.55 million on 1,104 screens in week four of Neon’s slow rollout for a tidy cume of $7.2 million.

A Real Pain from Searchlight Pictures with Jesse Eisenberg (who also directed and wrote) and Kieran Culkin will gross an estimated $282k at an additional eight locations for 12 theaters in week 2. That’s a cume through Sunday of $600k heading into a major expansion on 900+ screens next week.

Overlord by Naoyuki Ito is projecting $1.165 million on under 650 screens for the latest in the anime series based on the manga by Kugane Maruyama, produced by Kadokawa and animated by Madhouse. The first season debuted in 2017. Currently, all four seasons are now streaming on Crunchyroll along with OVERLORD: The Undead King and OVERLORD: The Dark Hero, two omnibus films that serve as recaps for season one. 

Critically acclaimed Small Things Like These from Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate starring Cillian Murphy opened to $585k on 799 screens.

Vertical’s post-apocalyptic thriller Elevation from Vertical has a 3-day gross of $1.185 million on 1,400 screens.

A string wide-ish indie releases have tended to cluster in the $1 million to $2 million range. There are not-infrequent breakouts on the upside. On the downside, there’s almost no longer a floor for how low box office can go on independent titles.

In all, there were five indies in the domestic top 10 – Heretic and We Live In Time from A24, Conclave from Focus Features, Anora from Neon, and Terrifier 3 — Iconic Events Releasing for the Cineverse title.

IFC Films is reporting a $73k gross for Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point on 405 screens. The distributor’s well-reviewed claymation Memoir Of A Snail is at $200k at 467 locations for a cume of $375k in week 3.

Mubi’s release of Bird, the latest film from Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights) sold out multiple weekend shows at one engagement at the Angelika Film Center in New York for a $24.1k opening weekend.

Mubi said The Substance has crossed $16 million.