Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” has secured the best pandemic-era debut at the independent box office.With speciality offerings like “Licorice Pizza,” the key metric is per-theater-average rather than overall box office tally since its playing in very few locations.
From only four theaters in the country — two in New York and two in Los Angeles — “Licorice Pizza” brought in $335,000 in total and $83,852 per location, more than any other specialty film in nearly two years.
In other words, PTA has landed the best PTA among arthouse titles since the onset of Covid-19.In its first three days of release, “Licorice Pizza” surpassed A24’s black-and-white drama “C’mon C’mon,” which previously held the record for best platform launch after generating $135,447 on five screens — averaging to $26,889 per location.
Prior to that, indie darling Wes Anderson set the pandemic-era arthouse benchmark with “The French Dispatch,” which grossed $1.3 million from 52 theaters — averaging $25,000 per location.
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