Focus Features has done a full takeover of the Angelika Film Center with The Phoenician Scheme on all six screens for filmmaker Wes Anderson’s latest. There’s a lobby and café redesign for full immersion, a jazz band, custom cocktails, t-shirts and totes as the film, which clocked a lengthy standing ovation at its recent Cannes world premiere (see Deadline review) bows theatrically in limited release at six locations including NYC’s Alamo Brooklyn and AMC Lincoln Square and AMC’s The Grove, Century City and Burbank in LA.
Around this time in 2023, Anderson’s Asteroid City, also from Focus, delivered a massive jolt to the arthouse and specialty world with a $790k three-day weekend, also at six theaters, including a takeover of the Landmark LA. That opening per-theater average of $132k was the biggest in years for a helmer known to energize the specialty box office. His Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014 opened at $800k on four screens for a PSA of $200k — still considered the one to top in absolute.
The Angelika’s immersive experience features a Marseille Bob’s themed bar with customized menu items including a signature champagne cocktail and photos taken by a film-inspired Egyptian elevator and vintage train. The theater is offering a premium ticket for $60 with a t-shirt, large popcorn and drink (including cocktail) combo and King Size Hershey’s Bar. A standard experience ticket is $30.
Q&As Friday with Anderson and cast members Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera at the 4:40 pm and 5:40 pm shows.
Del Toro stars as wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda, who names his only daughter (Threapleton), a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.
Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Darjeeling Express, Isle Of Dogs, Rushmore and more) will be introducing shows at 7 pm. and 7:20 pm.
The director’s large and devoted following is welcome as independent films have generally struggled post Covid and the 2025 indie box office only recently perked up from a long post-holiday lull. It’s been feeling some love in recent weeks from a lively Cannes and an overall crush in ticket buying at the North American box office.
“Wes means a huge amount to me personally as an artist, and I feel like I’m probably not the only one in the room who would say something like that, and just getting to be even a small part of any of his movies truly means the world to me,” said Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski at screening of The Phoenician Scheme at Jazz At Lincoln Center this week. “I can speak for all of us at Focus when I say it is just such a joy, such a pleasure, such a point of pride to be part of this ride with Wes and the entire team.”
New openings: IFC debuts period action-drama Tornado written and directed by John Maclean in moderate release on 412 screens. Set in the rugged landscape of 1790s Britain, the film follows Tornado (Kōki,) who finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father’s traveling puppet show crosses paths with a ruthless criminal gang led by Sugarman (Tim Roth) and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Jack Lowden). In an attempt to create a new life, Tornado seizes the opportunity to steal the gold from the gang’s most recent heist. World premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in February.
Music Box Films presents Ghost Trail, Jonathan Millet’s debut feature that opened Cannes in 2024 (Deadline review here). Inspired by true events, the drama-thriller follows Hamid, a former literature professor from Syria, (rising French-Tunisian star Adam Bessa, César-nominated for his performance), living in France two years after being released from one of Bashar El-Assad’s’s jails. Haunted by the traumatic memories of his imprisonment, Hamid tirelessly searches for the man who tortured him, helped by members of a secret cell of other exiled Syrians hunting down war criminals. The film excavates the moral dilemmas migrants confront as they struggle to rebuild their lives and take control of their destinies. Written by Millet and Florence Rochat, also stars Tawfeek Barhom, Julia Franz Richter and Hala Rajab.
Abramorama opens Jack Sumner’s documentary Ron Delsener Presents at the Quad in NYC. In a career spanning sixty years, concert promoter and impresario Ron Delsener was the name behind virtually every major contemporary music concert in New York City for generations — from promoting the Beatles at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, to bringing David Bowie to Carnegie Hall and Patti Smith to the Palladium, to somehow convincing Simon and Garfunkel to bury the hatchet and play the biggest concert of all time in Central Park. Features Jon Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffett, Cher, Art Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Lorne Michaels, Bette Midler, Gene Simmons, Paul Simon, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Stanley and Steven Van Zandt.
Live events: Trafalgar presents j-hope tour Hope On The Stage in Japan: Live Viewing, a live broadcast of the BTS star’s concert from Osaka to 2,700+ cinemas including 631 across North America. Select encores on Sunday.
Fathom is on about 800 screens in North America with The Met: Live in HD and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). Encores on Sunday.
Noting A24’s Friendship, which has had a great run, is on 1,280 screens in week 4 (the distributor is opening horror Bring Her Back wide on 2,400 screens), and Sony Pictures Classics Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, which had a strong debut last week, jumps to 526 screens from 60.
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