Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme is now the top-grossing limited opening of the year with an estimated $570,000 this weekend at just six locations in New York and Los Angeles for a per-theater average of $95K. The Focus Features’ film expands to 1,500 screens next weekend.
The film unseats A24’s Friendship, which kicked the indie box into high gear a few weeks ago with a great $445K limited opening and $75K per-theater opening for Andrew DeYoung’s feature debut starring comedian Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd.
The Phoenician Scheme, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, stars Benicio del Toro as a family patriarch and business titan beset by rivals and assassins, and Mia Threapleton as his daughter, a nun, whom he wants to inherit it all. Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, and Benedict Cumberbatch also star in the pic, which is coming off its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.
The Phoenician Scheme is the third major collaboration of Focus, Anderson and Indian Paintbrush, who also partnered on Anderson’s most recent feature Asteroid City (2023) as well Moonrise Kingdom (2012). It was produced by Anderson for his American Empirical Pictures banner alongside longtime collaborators Steven Rales of Indian Paintbrush, Jeremy Dawson and John Peet. The movie was filmed in Germany in association with Studio Babelsberg.
Asteroid City’s PTA of $132K was the biggest in years, and The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014 a record-setter at $200K. The latter ended up scoring nine Oscar nominations including Best Picture and winning four.
Focus took over the Angelika Film Center in New York this weekend with Phoenician Scheme on all six screens, a jazz band and movie-themed merchandise and activations in the lobby and concessions – reflected in higher ticket prices — $30 for standard and $60 for premium.
NYC’s Alamo Brooklyn and AMC Lincoln Square and AMC’s The Grove, Century City and Burbank in Los Angeles are other opening theaters.
Other new openings: IFC Films debuted UK period thiller Tornado to $130K at 412 theaters, and Music Box Fims opened Jonathan Millet’s feature debut Ghost Trail from Cannes 2024 with French-Tunisian star Adam Bessa at four locations to $5,600.
Holdover: Sony Pictures Classics Jane Austen Wrecked My Life clocked $561K on 526 screens in week 2 (up from 61 last week) for a cume of $977.500.
Event cinema had a terrific weekend with the final Met: Live in HD transmission of the 2024–2025 season, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, grossing $906K at about 800 cinemas in North America. Fathom distributes in most markets.
Trafalgar had a doubleheader, with Saturday’s live worldwide broadcast of j-hope tour ‘Hope on the Stage in Japan: Live Viewing — the BTS solo star’s concert from Osaka — grossing $789K at 631 screens in North America.
The UK-based distributor’s collaboration with Hasbro was also out with Peppa Meets the Baby Cinema Experience globally including 428 venues in North America that grossed $420K for Friday and Saturday.
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