Art House movies are having a TikTok moment – The Hollywood Reporter
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Wrestling drama Iron claw It has quietly grossed $31.5 million domestically at the box office since its Christmas release, a veritable bonanza for an indie film in the post-pandemic era and one of the best showings ever for distributor A24. And it’s not the only niche film doing impressive business these days thanks to a powerful new ally: youth.
For years, movie theaters have relied on “old people,” as one independent executive put it — moviegoers over the age of 35 or 40. But this relationship collapsed during the Covid-19 crisis and has not yet been fully restored. At the same time, 18- to 34-year-old audiences began to disdain once-sure-hit genres like superhero fare and began to venture outside their comfort zone. “Also, people are realizing that streaming has stopped. There is less quality content to watch at home,” Neon’s head of distribution, Elissa Federoff, adds.
“This is the strongest I can remember seeing this kind of demand since the early 2000s,” says Lisa Bonnell, head of distribution at Focus Features. More than 40 percent of ticket buyers went to the opening weekend RetainersIt is directed by and starring Alexander Payne She says Paul Giamatti was under 35 years old. The film has grossed an impressive $18.8 million so far since its release in October, and will be back in theaters over the weekend of January 27-29 after receiving five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor (as an example of its success, it has He won more than last year’s Best Picture Competitor Fabelmanswhich grossed $17.3 million domestically).
On the opening weekend of Iron claw – Championship Zac Efron and The bearJeremy Allen White as the famous Von Erich Brothers – More than 60 percent of ticket buyers were 35 or younger, including a large segment of 18-24 year olds. The painful film went viral thanks to its cast, which also includes Harris Dickinson, and became a TikTok sensation when people who had seen the film were quick to post videos of themselves crying.
A24 is known for its focus on films that appeal to younger generations. Lady Bird (2017) is another example (and it was one of his first films Spring breakers). Ditto for rival distributor Neon, home of the Oscar winner parasite. More traditional specialty distributors, including distribution heavyweights Focus and Searchlight, are riding the boon as more and more younger adults discover specialty cinema.
Opening weekend on December 8, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Victorian-era thriller takes place Bad things, from Searchlight, saw 70 percent of ticket buyers under the age of 35, followed by 66 percent in second and 58 percent in third. The film has grossed an astonishing $21.4 million to date and has been nominated for 11 Oscars, the most nominations for any film. Oppenheimer. (Box office observers say it’s not entirely surprising.) Bad things —A genre-defying film about sexual exploration and women’s freedom starring Emma Stone—may skew YA.)
Until now Area of interest, a Holocaust drama (and another A24 title), is attracting young people’s interest. “For a film about this subject, to have more than half the audience under 35 is very noteworthy and encouraging. I think last year’s niche films — The Fablemans, Inchirin Panchayat, tar And Armageddon time “All of them were older thematically and were more traditional, while some of this year’s films could have been released younger while still playing to an older, review-based audience,” notes one industry insider.
Area of interest It is also in the running for the Academy Award for Best Picture and has a total of five nominations. Fellow best photo competitor American fantasyfrom Amazon, is another film that plays to both younger and older audiences, along the lines of Area of interest. On opening weekend, more than 40 percent of ticket buyers were under 34 years old.
The rise in box office can be seen when looking at the lower domestic revenues of many niche films competing in the Oscar race for Best Picture last year: Inchirin Panchayat ($10.6 million), tar ($6.8 million), Women talking ($5.4 million) and Triangle of sadness ($4.6 million). The big exception, of course, was the A24 Everything everywhere at once ($77.2 million).
Regarding the Oscar race’s use of box office revenue, American fantasy The expansion has been held back until after nominations are announced and will jump from 850 theaters to more than 1,500 locations on January 27 (it’s taken a promising $8.4 million so far). Bad things It will boost the number of cinema locations from 1,400 to 2,200. The A24 is still relatively slow Area of interest This will increase the number of film locations from 82 to just north of 300.
Kevin Wilson, head of theatrical distribution at Amazon MGM Studios, recently helmed two niche films that primarily appealed to younger adults, Bottoms And Saltburn, which each grossed nearly $11 million last year in North America, a solid showing for these times. “What’s interesting is that we’re starting to see a younger cinephile audience looking for more unique content,” says Wilson. The executive also credits a rising new generation of stars, e.g SaltburnBarry Keoghan.
Ask Wilson, Federoff, Bunnell or any other distribution president in the specialty field, and they’ll tell you that Alamo Drafthouse helped fuel this trend by providing an attractive, fun environment. (As it happens, Alamo co-founder Tim Legg was involved in launching Tom Quinn’s Neon.) Loyalty programs offered by large circuits also make frequent moviegoing less expensive, Federoff says.
“Now people can drink and hang out in a social community,” Federoff says. “It’s part of nostalgia, like going back to records. People are reclaiming cinema.”
