Stop Making Sense, the remastered concert film that sowed delight at TIFF, opens on 300 Imax screens in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland. Locations Stateside number 260 ahead of a nationwide release next week.
The 1984 Talking Heads extravaganza from Jonathan Demme is presented in its new iteration by A24 — meaning the decades-old movie can now extend its reach to a new, younger audience that is A24’s core fan base. Opening numbers are hard to gauge since there aren’t many comps but there are parties, discos, stars and sellouts with film looking at about $1.5 million, including Thursday previews.
A 40th anniversary large-format special premiere screening at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month had people dancing in the aisles and broke Imax records. It was the company’s highest grossing live event, earning $640.8k and selling out 25 screens across 165 Imax locations in North America and the BFI Imax in London. The film opens into a surprisingly crowded weekend for specialty fare.
Neon presents It Lives Inside, a horror/thriller from first-time feature director Bishal Dutta, opens on 1,985 screens. Written by Dutta and Ashish Mehta, it follows Sam (Megan Suri), a culturally insecure Indian-American teen and her estranged friend, Tamira (Mohana Krishnan), who carries a mysterious, empty mason jar with her at all times. In a moment of anger, Sam breaks Tamira’s jar and unleashes an ancient Indian demonic force.
IFC Films presents The Origin of Evil on 206 screens. By Sébastien Marnier and starring Suzanne Clément, Laure Calamy, Doria Tiller, Jacques Weber, Dominique Blanque. A woman is sucked into a world of secrets and betrayal as the battle over her estranged father’s massive estate reveals him to be more than the genial patriarch she’d assumed in this twisted satire. Premiered at Venice last year, Deadline review here.
Music Box Films presents My Sailor, My Love by Klaus Härö on 37 screens in 21 markets including the Regal Essex Crossing in NY and Monica Film Center, Laemmle Town Center, Regal Long Beach in LA plus a mix of independent and chain locations in Philadelphia, Boston, DC, Houston, Seattle, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, Sacramento and elsewhere. Howard (James Cosmo), a grumpy retired sailor and widower lives in a house by the sea. When adult daughter Grace (Catherine Walker) hires a caretaker, Annie (Bríd Brennan), he rejects her company but eventually opens his heart. Written by Jimmy Karlsson, Kirsi Vikman
AppleTV+ presents Flora And Son in limited release. Debuts on the streamer 9/29. The Sundance charmer by John Carney stars Eve Hewson as a single mom, Flora, at a loss about how to deal with her rebellious teenage son, Max (Orén Kinlan). Encouraged by the police to find Max a hobby, Flora tries to occupy him with a beat-up acoustic guitar. With the help of a washed-up LA musician (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Flora and Max discover the transformative power of music. Deadline review here.
Relax, I’m from the Future from Blue Fox Entertainment is out on 45 screens. Directed by Luke Higginson, it stars Rhys Darby as a man from the future now trapped in the past, who tries to make a life for himself oblivious to the consequences he has set in motion.
Man On The Run, a doc about the the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) scandal and the fund’s alleged mastermind, international fugitive Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, premieres in NYC at Village East, expanding to LA (Laemmle Monica Film Center) next weekend. The film by Cassius Michael Kim follows Jho Low, born to a rich family in Penang Island, Malaysia, he studied at the Harrow School in London and Wharton in the U.S. Before becoming a wanted man for his role in the 1MDB scandal, the 40-year-old businessman and financier led a glamorous life, partying with celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and dating supermodel Miranda Kerr. He was involved in the financing of Martin Scorsese hit The Wolf of Wall Street and has been dubbed “the Asian Great Gatsby.” The doc is presented by The Smoking Section/Evergreen Media.
Circle Collective presents What Doesn’t Float from the new production shingle Gummy Films (Luca Balser, Rachel Walden and Pauline Chalamet) in NYC at the Roxy Cinema with multiple sellouts and more showings added for next week ahead of the film’s LA opening on 10/6 at Brain Dead and a theatrical and festival tour throughout October. The NYC opening features support from Posteritati, Red Hook’s iconic ‘Record Store’ owned by Bene Coopersmith — the film was shot throughout Red Hook and NYC. The indie film was granted a SAG-AFTRA promotional waiver. Pauline Chalamet (Sex Lives of College Girls) produced and stars along with Larry Fessenden (Depraved) and Keith Poulson (PVT Chat) as New Yorkers at their wit’s end.
Cohen Media Group presents documentary The Storms of Jeremy Thomas at the Quad, expanding to LA and about ten other markets next week. The prolific and sometimes transgressive producer (The Last Emperor, Sexy Beast, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Crash), on his annual drive from the UK to the Cannes Film Festival, talks cinema and his career with director Mark Cousins. Premiered at Cannes 2021. This week, Thomas took another drive, from TIFF to NYC for a special screening and Q&A with Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker. The Quad is featuring a retrospective of his work.
UnCharitable from Abramorama, directed by Stephen Gyllenhall, premieres at NYC’s Village East, hitting LA’s Laemmle Royal Sept. 29. The documentary based on the book and TED talk by AIDS Rides and Breast Cancer Walk founder Dan Pallotta exposes that dark side of philanthropy. After three of the most dynamic and successful U.S. charities were shut down by conservative watchdogs, destroying lives and cutting off precious resources, many of the top influencers in the field knew something had to be done to overhaul the nonprofit sector. Beginning with Pallotta, whose Ted Talk on the subject has inspired top philanthropists and changemakers, the feature introduces a radical new way of giving, demanding that charities be freed from traditional sackcloth-and-ashes constraints. Interviews with TED CEO Chris Anderson, Steve Nardizzi (co-founder, Wounded Warrior Project), Darren Walker (Ford Foundation president), and actor Edward Norton (Crowdrise Founder).