A conservative and a faith-based film landed at nos. 4 and 10 at the domestic box office this weekend, with a solid showing for anime Dan Dan Dan: First Encounter and a nice limited opening for My Old Ass.
Am I Racist?, the first theatrical release from Jeremy Boreing and Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire, had a phenomenal opening weekend grossing $4.75 million on 1,517 screens for the no. 4 spot at the domestic box office and one of the top documentary bows of the past decade.
The anti-DEI film is distributed by SDG Releasing, which also handled Walsh’s previous doc What Is A Woman?.
Am I A Racist? follows the host of podcast The Matt Walsh Show as he goes undercover with tweed jacket and ponytail to earn his DEI certificate on a mock journey towards “anti-racism.”
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DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), a practice increasingly used by organizations to value differences and create opportunity, has faced backlash from Conservative lawmakers and activists.
The film has a 99% Rotten Tomatoes audience score with 500+ ratings, but no critics’ ranking on the site. Top DMAs according to distributor reps, are LA, New York, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Salt Lake City, Nashville, Phoenix, Chicago, Seattle-Tacoma, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Washington, D.C. and Denver. Demographics land at 56% male/44% female; 64% Caucasian; and 40% under age 35.
According to The Daily Wire, founded by Boreing and Shapiro in 2015, its app, website, shows, and social media accounts have a monthly network reach of 220 million, including a million paid subscribers.
God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust from Fathom Events saw a $1.46 million weekend on 1,392 screens as it rounds out the top ten. A cume of $1.83 million includes Thursday. Directed by Vance Null, the film stars David A.R. White as Reverend David Hill in a race for Congress against an opponent who wants to erase religion from policy. With Isaiah Washington, Ray Wise, Scott Baio, Samaire Armstrong and Dean Caine.
This is no. 5 in a series of God’s Not Dead (2014), God’s Not Dead 2 (2016), God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018) and God’s Not Dead: We the People (2021). It’s at 98% on RT with 250+ audience reviews. No critics’ ranking.
Moderate release: DAN DA DAN: First Encounter from GKids opened at over $1 million at 610 cinemas from limited event screenings Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The special program consists of the first three episodes of the series DAN DA DAN and interviews with talent behind the show, which is shaping up to be the fall’s most acclaimed new anime. This is the first time a major new anime series has debuted in cinemas prior to release, at 99% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Critic from Greenwich Entertainment starring Ian McKellen is looking at an estimated $200k opening weekend on 556 screens. The distributor opted against a platform release in favor of mix of 25% art house screens and 75% major circuit locations. Skewing older, upscale it fared considerably better art houses where it was either the top performer or among the top led by the Angelika and Cinema 123 in New York, the Avalon and Bethesda Row in D.C. and Fifth Avenue in Vancouver. Opened concurrent with the wide Lionsgate/True Brit UK release.
Limited release: My Old Ass from Amazon MGM Studios had a super $171.2k opening at just 7 theaters in New York, LA and Austin for a per screen average of $24.k, among the year’s top. The film by Megan Park, starring Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella expands to 32 theaters in 10 markets next week with a much wider break the following weekend. Looks positioned for long playability in the coming weeks on strong reviews (at 92% with RT critics) and word of mouth. Produced by LuckyChap’s Tom Ackerley, Margot Robbie, Josey McNamara, and Indian Paintbrush’s Steven Rales