‘Asteroid City’ Lights Up Specialty Box Office With Best Theater Average Since 2016

Father’s Day weekend has brought loads of bad news for multiple big-budget summer tentpoles, but there is some good news on the specialty front thanks to Wes Anderson’s new film “Asteroid City,” which was released by Focus Features in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles and is earning an estimated $790,000 for an excellent per theater average of $132,211.

Not only is that the best ever average for a Focus release, but it is also the best limited average since the $172,220+ average earned by Lionsgate/Summit’s Oscar winner “La La Land” in December 2016. It is also the best ever average for a film released in just six theaters, topping the $123,409 earned by Sony/Columbia’s “American Hustle” in December 2013. Focus also reported record opening weekends for the Angelika Theater in New York and the Sunset Theater in Los Angeles.

Such strong results are to be expected from Wes Anderson, who has developed a devoted cult fanbase since directing “The Royal Tenenbaums” two decades ago and which has only grown larger with hits like “Moonrise Kingdom” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Alamo Drafthouse catered to those fans with a pop-up exhibit at its theater in Lower Manhattan along with a sneak preview screening with Anderson and the film’s cast in Brooklyn.

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“We are beyond thrilled by this weekend’s record-breaking results and the overwhelmingly positive response. Wes Anderson is a singular director with unmatched creative vision, and it is so gratifying to see adult moviegoers returning to theaters to join in on the fun of this film,” said Lisa Bunnell, Focus Features’ president of distribution.

Focus will expand “Asteroid City” to approximately 1,500 theaters nationwide next weekend, eschewing the steady nationwide rollout that past Anderson films like “Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Isle of Dogs” received from Searchlight Pictures prior to the pandemic. Reviews for the film, while not Anderson’s best, have been mostly positive with a 74% Rotten Tomatoes score.

With the box office significantly recovered, “Asteroid City” will look to earn a better domestic box office total than Anderson’s 2021 film “The French Dispatch,” which only made $16.1 million in October. The last Anderson film released in the summer was “Moonrise Kingdom,” which earned $45.5 million from its Memorial Day weekend release in 2012.

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