This is one of the best weekends for new indie releases in some time — a bit of space in theaters to run and audiences slowly, but increasingly, willing to return.
Focus Features’ The Outfit – the directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) — opens nationally on over 1,200 screens with Mark Rylance starring as a bespoke British tailor from London’s Savile Row. After a personal tragedy, he ends up running a tailor shop in a rough Chicago neighborhood making suits for the only people around who can afford them, a family of vicious gangsters.
The script is by Moore and Johnathan McClain. Also starring Zoey Deutch, Johnny Flynn, Dylan O’Brien, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Simon Russell Beale. It premiered in Berlin last month. Deadline review here.
Initially set for release Feb. 25, The Outfit occupies the slot vacated by Downtown Abbey: A New Era. In January, in the shadow of Omicron, Focus pushed that title to May 20.
“I’ve always liked March as a time period for adult specialty film,” Focus Features distribution president Lisa Bunnell tells Deadline. Focus released Jessica Chastain-starrer The Zookeeper’s Wife on March 22 (2017), she noted. “The Zookeeper’s Wife had a lot of success in this window. There’s a little bit of space here before a tough [crowded] time period in late spring and summer. We all hope things will continue to be better on the Covid front. And we do see things improving in adult [arthouse] theaters.”
A24, which reliably lures younger crowds to the arthouse, and beyond, presents Ti West’s smart slasher movie X on 2,865 screens. Last night, it made $440,000 Thursday night at 2,066 locations.
In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an porno film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives. Written by West. Starring Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Mia Goth, Scott Mescudi (rapper Kid Cudi) and Brittany Snow. X just premiered at South by Southwest where A24 and West revealed they’ve already got a prequel in post-production in New Zealand, where the first film was shot.
“Historically, horror and pornography have always had a bit of a symbiotic relationship – two forms of lowbrow entertainment that could be made independently outside of the traditional Hollywood studio system,” West writes today on A24’s blog. Often overlooked, is the “entrepreneurial spirit that accompanies trying to make these types of films, and craft them well.” With X he hopes to “capture the best of both worlds. To make you think about the craft of filmmaking while still having a fun night out at the movies.”
Crunchyroll presents anime Jujutsu Kaisen 0 on 1,500 screens. Based on the prequel manga to Gege Akutami’s anime series Jujutsu Kaisen, it follows Yuta Okkotsu, a nervous high school student, who enrolls in the mysterious Tokyo Jujutsu High School under the guidance of Satoru Gojo after being haunted by the curse of his childhood friend. Directed by Sunghoo Park. With Kana Hanazawa, Megumi Ogata, Mikako Komatsu. It already racked up $2.88M in previews last night at 2,003 locations.
Sony’s Stage 6 Films presents Sam Raimi-produced supernatural thriller Umma starring Sandra Oh in 800 theaters. The film follows Oh and her daughter (Fivel Stewart) whose quiet life on an American farm is disturbed when the remains of her estranged mother arrive from Korea. Written and directed by Iris K. Shim. Also starring MeeWha Alana Lee, Tom Yi, with Odeya Rush and Dermot Mulroney.
Roadside Attractions presents Alice on 170 screens. The film, which premiered at Sundance (Deadline review here) is directed biy Krystin Ver Linden and stars Common, Keke Palmer. After a daring escape from the brutal owner of a rural Georgia plantation, an enslaved woman soon discovers the year is actually 1973. A modern empowerment fable inspired by true accounts.
IFC Films presents music documentary The Torch on 15 screens and digital. Guitar icon Buddy Guy reflects on his legacy and passes along blues lessons received from legends Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf. Guy himself has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer. Directed by Jim Farrell. First premiered at the 2019 Chicago Film Festival.
Amazon presents Master, limited release and streaming. The first feature written/directed by Mariama Diallo stars Regina Hall, Zoe Renee and Amber Gray. It world premiered this year at Sundance, Deadline review here. Drama follows three women striving to find their place at a prestigious New England university whose frosty elitism may disguise something more sinister.
Stand with Ukraine: The Guide, Urakinian director Oles Sanin’s 2014 film, is in 608 theaters with, organizers say, thousands of show times as exhibitors expand engagements. Proceeds to the Ukrainian relief effort. The film follows a young boy Peter in the midst of turbulent, repressive Soviet Ukraine. His father is killed for obtaining secret documents, which are hidden in Peter’s book, forcing him to flee.
Utopia presents documentary Jane by Charlotte. A portrait of Jane Birkin — actress, model, singer-songwriter and fashion icon — by her daughter, actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film opens officially at Quad today in NYC ahead of LA next Friday.
Elsewhere in specialty (also limited release/day-and-date):
Sci-fi pic Expired, from Lionsgate, directed and written by Ivan Sen, starring Ryan Kwanten and Hugo Weaving. A futuristic thriller about a hitman who meets a mysterious nightclub singer. In a dozen theaters and digital.
Saban Films’s action film Panama starring Mel Gibson and Cole Hauser. With the U.S. is on the brink of invading Panama, a former marine (Hauser) is hired by a CIA operative (Gibson) for a top secret arms trade mission. Directed by Mark Neveldine, written by Daniel Adams, William Barber.
From Vertical Entertainment, Political comedy The Hater by Joey Ally with Bruce Dern, Ally, Meredith Hagner. After losing her job on a U.S. Senate campaign, a liberal environmentalist returns to her conservative Texas hometown to regroup to find her childhood nemesis is running for state legislature.
Also from Vertical, Measure of Revenge with Bella Thorne, Jake Weary, Melissa Leo. Broadway actress Lillian Cooper (Leo) is making her final on-stage appearance when her famous son, Curtis (Jake Weary), is found dead of a suspicious overdose.