Box Office: ‘The French Dispatch’ Sets Pandemic-Era Record Theater Average

In a win for the art house market, Wes Anderson‘s The French Dispatch posted the top opening theater average of the pandemic era.

The Searchlight Pictures movie grossed $1.3 million from 52 cinemas in 14 U.S. markets, or $25,000 per location. The previous best three-day opening weekend average of the pandemic era belonged to Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($21,309) and, before that, Black Widow ($19,400).

Before the COVID-19 crisis, the opening performance of a specialty or indie film was judged by its location average since these titles start off at a small number of sites. An average of $75,000 or above was considered a big win, while anything north of $100,000 was reserved for an elite few.

The latter category included Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, which made history in 2014 with an opening weekend average of $202,791 from four cinemas. In 2012, Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom‘s opening average was $130,749, likewise from four sites.

Throughout the COVID-19, averages have been minuscule in comparison for art house fare as older adults remain wary of returning to theaters. Now, that demo has begun testing the waters.

The French Dispatch raises the bar in a significant way after doing impressive business in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Austin and other strongholds for art house audiences.

“These figures show that after a year and a half, art house and independent theaters have a superhero of their own in Wes Anderson. What has been doubly encouraging is the crossover results in mainstream theaters hungry for Wes’ 10th film as well,” Searchlight’s Frank Rodriguez says.

The list of top-grossing locations was led by New York City’s Anjelika Film Center and also included The Landmark in Los Angeles, The Grove in L.A., AMC Lincoln Center, Alamo Downtown L.A. and BAM in Brooklyn.

In the film, Bill Murray plays the editor of a fictitious American magazine in a quaint French town, whose staff assembles to prepare their final issue in this valentine to literary journalism. The film also stars Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet, who had double box office duty this weekend between this movie and Dune.

The A-list ensemble cast also includes Owen Wilson, Christoph Waltz, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston, Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss, Willem Dafoe, Lois Smith, Saoirse Ronan, Cécile de France, Guillaume Gallienne, Tony Revolori, Rupert Friend, Henry Winkler and Bob Balaban, among others.

The French Dispatch will test the bounds of its commercial appeal when expanding into more than 600 locations next weekend.