‘Thelma’ Nearly Out-Grosses Russell Crowe’s New Movie at Domestic Box Office

Magnolia Pictures had its widest-ever release this weekend with the comedy-drama Thelma, opening the movie in 1,290 domestic theaters to surprisingly solid results. Starring the 94-year-old Oscar nominee June Squibb in her first leading role, Thelmadebuted in the top 10 of the domestic box office chart, nearly out-performing the latest film starring Russell Crowe, The Exorcism, which grossed just $200,000 more despite playing in over 1,000 extra locations. It’s an entirely unexpected turn of events, because the horror genre has always been a more lucrative proposition than indie films starring actors almost as old as the medium itself. Squibb made her Broadway debut over 60 years ago.

Thelmamade $2.2 million domestically this weekend, claiming the eighth spot behind The Exorcism, which grossed $2.4 million. Thelma delivered a $1,700 per-theater average, as compared to The Exorcism’s $1,090 PTA. In this department, it also out-performed holdovers such as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, IF, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The weekend chart was topped by Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which made a record-breaking $100 million in its second weekend. You’d think that peak summer is an odd time to release a movie like Thelma in theaters, but the movie has company in its quest to provide counter-programming; this weekend, Searchlight Pictures debuted Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness to a record-breaking $70,000 PTA in five locations.

Written and directed by Josh Margolin, Thelma follows the titular character on her quest to retrieve the $10,000 that she was scammed out of while trying to help her grandson. The movie opened to universal acclaim, and currently stands at a near-perfect 99% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. In his review, Collider’s Ross Bonaime wrote that “what makes Thelma work so well is its ability to never insult old people, but embrace the possibilities of this new phase in their lives.”

‘Thelma’ Debuted At Number Eight On the Domestic Box Office Chart

Deadline reported that the movie did especially well among younger audiences, and should continue to draw older crowds during the week. Earlier this year, fellow indie distributors IFC Films and A24 also experimented with their widest-ever releases — Late Night with the Devil and Civil War, respectively. Both movies turned out to be successful at the box office, although they played in entirely different leagues. Also starring Gladiator II’s Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree in his final performance, alongside Clark Gregg and Parker Posey, Thelma would hope to clear the $10 million mark in its theatrical run. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.