The Whale from A24 broke the per-screen record established by the independent distributor’s Everything, Everywhere All At Once in late April by swimming to the largest restricted opening of the year in NY and LA this weekend.
The movie, which stars Brendan Fraser, had sold-out screenings at all six locations this past weekend, earning an estimated $360,000 at an average of $60,000 per screen. This is the biggest PSA of 2022, the second-largest restricted debut since 2020, and Darren Aronofsky’s strongest start since Black Swan.
Critics and viewers have praised Fraser’s performance, which began to gain momentum during the autumn theatre season with the world debut in Venice earlier this year. Fraser, a former action star from the Mummy film series, portrays an obese English teacher who is trying to get back in touch with his daughter after a long estrangement. Long-standing applause for the movie in Venice was repeated throughout Q&As over the course of the weekend. Exits demonstrate exceptionally positive word-of-mouth for Fraser and co-star Sadie Sink and Hong Chau across all audiences.
Everything Everywhere All At Once debuted with a $50k per screen budget and has already made over $100 million in international box office revenue. Other big PSAs include Searchlight Pictures’ The Banshees Of Inisherin, at $46k, as well as Tár from Focus Features and The Fabelmans from Universal, both at around $40k. All three started on four screens. Banshees is a $19 million worldwide. Tár has grossed about $5 million and The Fabelmans is at $6.5 million.