The historic highs for the typically slow post-Thanksgiving weekend are hiding a flurry of specialty and limited release films that usually take advantage of the lack of new films in early December, with the Indian action film “Pushpa 2” leading the charge.
Released on Thursday in 1,245 theaters by Prathyangira Cinemas, “Pushpa 2” earned $5.5 million over the weekend — enough for the No. 5 spot on the charts — with a 4-day opening of $10 million. It’s the latest example of theaters in Indian-American communities finding plenty of business on historically slow weekends by devoting screens to the biggest Telugu, Tamil and Hindi tentpoles.
Announced prior to the release of its 2021 predecessor, “Pushpa 2” continues the tale of its titular protagonist, who has risen from a mere laborer to a deadly kingpin of sandalwood smuggling. The film is one of the longest in Indian history at 200 minutes.
The top per-theater average goes to Paramount’s 10th anniversary re-release of Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” in Imax 70mm. From just 165 screens, the film grossed $4.4 million this weekend, for an average of $26,666.
A year removed from his Best Picture-winning and biopic box office record-holding “Oppenheimer,” Nolan continues to command a global fanbase unmatched by any active filmmaker. His next film, which is being kept tight under wraps by Universal, is set for release in July 2026 and is already loading up on top stars, including Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Lupita Nyong’o, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Charlize Theron.
Fathom Events also took advantage of the weekend to release “King + Country’s A Drummer Boy Christmas Live,” a concert film featuring the Christian soft rock duo’s sold-out show in Houston. The special engagement grossed $2.6 million from 1,540 theaters, with Fathom now extending the film’s run until Dec. 18.
Crunchyroll’s “Solo Level: ReAwakening” also cracked the top 10 with $2.4 million from just 846 screens. The theatrical release features a recap of the first season of the anime series based on the hit Korean web novel, along with the first two episodes of the upcoming second season before it debuts on Crunchyroll’s streaming service.
The big misfire of the weekend is A24’s “Y2K,” which launched in just over 2,100 theaters, but only grossed $2.1 million. The disaster comedy from writer-director Kyle Mooney follows a bunch of millennial high schoolers fighting to survive when the Y2K bug turns every machine in the world into robotic monsters.
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