This year, responding to the pushed-up Oscar calendar and competitive bookings, distributors opened more fall movies earlier than usual.
Usually a major awards player like “Roma,” “Darkest Hour” or “The Favourite” opens on the well-attended Thanksgiving weekend.That’s why the weekend saw no new breakout limited opener, but rather Netflix’s fall festival hit “The Two Popes,” starring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins, which will hit streaming shortly.
Its initial (estimated) grosses fell quite short.Meantime, the latest edition of the long-running British documentary “63 Up” (BritBox) had a strong exclusive start.The early release dates paid off though with a strong showing for expanding titles: four scored $1 million for the three days.
Last year, the general release “Green Book” (in its initial expansion) and “Boy Erased” also reached that level.Opening French Oscar entry “Les Miserables” as a one-week qualifier in New York and Los Angeles, Amazon did not report grosses.
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