“The Whale” with Brendan Fraser, ready to impress at Choppy Arthouse Market – Specialty Preview

Following its triumphant world premiere (with a seven-minute standing ovation) at the Venice Film Festival, A24 opens Darren Aronofsky’s The whale in theaters this weekend amid a flurry of Oscar frenzy surrounding star Brendan Fraser. The former action star stars in the psychological drama as Charlie, a withdrawn and severely overweight English teacher trying to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.

Deadline critic Damon Wise said that Fraser’s “all-in performance … makes adjectives like ‘brave’ and ‘fearless’ seem almost meaningless” and so on The whale “Breaking the line to put a never better Brendan Fraser at the forefront of the Best Actor race.” See full review.

It opens on a total of six screens in NYC (Alamo Brooklyn, Angelika, AMC Lincoln Square) and LA (AMC Century City, Burbank, The Grove) and plans to stay there next week, with a limited national presence coming up on December 21 . holiday.

The whale It looks like it will fetch at least $50,000 per screen, and possibly a lot more in a niche market that could use a bump. We’ve seen some higher opening numbers, but most of them are still well below pre-pandemic levels. The same applies to general receipts. Both records are beatable by A24s. Everything everywhere at oncewhich passed $50,000 PSA in late March and grossed $70 million in North America (over $100 million worldwide).

Aaronofsky (Mother!, black swan, The wrestler) was directed from a screenplay by Samuel D. Hunter, based on Hunter’s 2012 drama of the same name. Other leads include Hong Chau, Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins and Samantha Morton.

Fraser wore modern prosthetics for the film—far beyond a traditional fat suit. The actor called the role of 600-pound Charlie “the most challenging” of his career and the character “the most heroic man I’ve ever played.” A video of the actor crying in applause in Venice was widely shared, as was The Rock’s subsequent love affair on Twitter.

At another grand opening this weekend, Sam Mendes’ rich in light by Searchlight Pictures is in 100 theaters in 30 top markets.

Art house bookings include Coolidge Corner in Boston, Jacob Burns Film Center Cinema and Huntington in New York, The Avon in CT, AFI Silver Theater in Silver Springs, Cinema Arts Fairfax, Bryn Maw Film Institute and others. Multiplexes include the Metreon in San Francisco, Lincoln Square and Union Square in NYC, and AMC Burbank.

Searchlight had a strong run The menu and The Banshees by Inisherin both in the theater. As indie distributors experiment with release strategies, Searchlight said the film, starring Olivia Colman, Michael Ward and Colin Firth, will be limited to just a few theaters in each opening city — or the same as a traditional platform release. This will allow art house cinemas and mainstream cinemas to open the film simultaneously and on the pop, rather than waiting another week or two.

It will expand to 600-700 locations on December 23.

Set in and around a decrepit old cinema in an English seaside town in the early 1980s, the film follows the relationship between Hilary (Colman), a cinema manager struggling with her mental health, and Stephen (Ward), a newcomer -employee who longs to escape from the provincial town where, as a young black man, he is confronted with racism on a daily basis. With Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke and Toby Jones.

It had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival – Deadline Review – and was screened in Toronto. Mendes excellent Stockholm Visionary Award at the Stockholm Film Festival and the Kieslowski Award at EnergaCAMERIMAGE.

Searchlight is marketing rich in light to a core audience of cinephiles, art houses, regular moviegoers and anglophiles with a target audience of 25+. The campaign will focus heavily on national media during the expansion weeks.

Greenwich Entertainment is also opening Josh Alexander’s Al Sharpton documentary loud mouth in more than 50 locations. The Tribeca Festival’s closing night follows the life and career of the polarizing preacher and activist who made headlines in New York City in the late 1980s and has been at the center of national discussion of every race ever since. With never-before-seen archival footage and meticulous access, the documentary casts a devastating spotlight on the pastoral prodigy-turned-political-incendiary-turned-media establishment.

Outsider Pictures presents Fernando Guzzoni blankChile’s Oscar entry for Best International Film at the Laemmle Glendale and Cinema Village in Manhattan. blank had its world premiere in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival this year and won the award for best screenplay for Guzzoni.

Laura López makes her debut as an 18-year-old nurse and key witness in a trial of powerful politicians and businessmen in a child sex scandal. As questions arise, her role in the scandal becomes unclear. Alejandro Goic plays the priest who runs the nursing home. With Amparo Noguera, Marcelo Alonso and Daniela Ramirez. The film is inspired by the real-life pedophilia ring of the early 2000s, run by an entrepreneur and sports club owner.

Chile won the Oscar for Best International Film in 2018 with Sebastían Lelio A fantastic womanwhile that of Pablo Larrain no was nominated for the 2012-2013 race and that of Maite Alberdi The mole agent was nominated in the Best Documentary category last year.

Atlas Film Distribution opens Steven LaMorte’s slasher parody The average in more than 160 theaters.

David Howard Thornton (terrier 2‘s Art the Clown) stars as the hairy, grumpy, green-skinned man in a Santa suit who lives on a mountain high above the city of Newville and despises the holiday. As he unleashes a new reign of terror that threatens to destroy Christmas, young Cindy You-Know-Who (Krystle Martin), whose parents were slaughtered by The Mean One twenty Christmases earlier, returns to seek closure. Written by Flip and Finn Kobler. Stars Chase Mullins, John Bigham, Erik Baker, Flip Kobler and Amy Schumacher, who are also producers.

Netflix will open Matilda the Musical by Roald Dahl in approximately 120 theaters, including Quad and iPic Fulton Market in NY and Cinemark Playa Vista, iPic Westwood, Regal LA Live and The Bay in LA. It has earned $9.6 million in the UK and Ireland since its November 25 release by Sony.

The new cast of Tony and Olivier award-winning musical stars Emma Thompson, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Sindhu Vee, Alisha Weir and Lashana Lynch, directed by Matthew Warchus. Dennis Kelly adapted the Royal Shakespeare Company production for the big screen, with original music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Weir is the literal Matilda Wormwood, a little girl with great curiosity, a sharp mind and a vivid imagination. Graham and Riseborough are the worst parents in the world.

From the streamer Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro will continue in approximately 100 theaters, including IFC Center, MoMA and Alamo Drafthouse in NY, and Regal LA Live and The Bay in LA.

being white noise expanding to 275 theaters including Parys and Angelika in NY and Landmark Nuart, Laemmle Monica and the Bay in LA.

RLJE Films presents holiday clips Christmas Bloody Christmas on 300+ screens including NY/LA and streaming on Shudder. Directed by Joe Begos. Record store owner Tori Tooms just wants to get drunk and party when a nearby toy store’s robot Santa goes on a killing spree through a neon-drenched snowy landscape, forcing her into a bloody battle for survival against the merciless heavy metal Santa Nik. With Riley Dandy, Sam Delich, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Dora Madison, Jeremy Gardner, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Abraham Benrubi.