Indie releases are mixing it up again this weekend with Jay Duplass’ first new feature in years, Sundance hit Twinless, a Chinese box office winner, a handful of pressing documentaries and animated Light Of the World from nonprofit collective Salvation Film Project. Neon’s Splitsville is sticking around in theaters as is Lurker from Mubi. Greenwich Entertainment’s s Love, Brooklyn expands to 100 screens.
Independent Film Company is out with The Baltimorons at New York’s Alamo Drafthouse (Brooklyn), Lincoln Square, IFC Center and Jacob Burns Film Center, all with Q&A’s full or nearly sold out. A hit at its SXSW premiere, the holiday romance took the top prize in Nantucket and a dozen other plaudits during its festival run leading into the limited release. It’s at 97% with RT critics (29 reviews). Expands next week to Los Angeles (AMC Century City, The Frida Cinema, AMC Citywalk, Universal City, AMC Americana, LOOK Glendale) and other major markets with more sellouts in LA, Austin and, notably, in Baltimore where co-writer and star Michael Strassner’s hometown 400-seat theater, the Senator, sold out in less than 24 hours after tickets went on sale.
On Christmas Eve, Cliff (Strassner), a down-on-his luck comedian who can’t catch a break, chips a tooth, and suddenly finds himself in the late-night care of Didi (Liz Larsen), a sharp-witted, no-nonsense dentist. Written by Duplass and Strassner, it’s Jay Duplass’ return to the director chair for the first time in 14 years.
Sundance-premiering Twinless from Roadside Attractions, written and directed by James Sweeney, who also stars, opens on 563 screens. Certified Fresh at 97% with Critics on Rotten Tomatoes, see Deadline’s review. Two young men, Roman (Dylan O’Brien) and Dennis (Sweeney) meet in a twin support group and form an unlikely friendship as they search for solace and an identity without their other halves. But all is not what it seems and both harbor secrets that could unravel everything.
The Threesome from Vertical (the distributor’s 3rd nationwide theatrical release in 5 weeks as it ramps up) hits 402 screens. The romcom directed by Chad Hartigan, written by Ethan Ogilby, premiered at SXSW, see Deadline review. Its 90 markets include LA (The Grove, Century City, Universal City, Burbank and Orange County locations), AMC Lincoln Square, Kip’s Bay, Empire and Regal Union Square, Essex and Battery Park City in NY as well as Chicago (River East), San Francisco (Metreon), Boston Commons and DC’s Georgetown 14. Logline: An impulsive night leads to a wild threesome between Olivia (Zoey Deutch), Connor (Jonah Hauer-King) and Jenny (Ruby Cruz), leaving the two women facing unexpected consequences and thrusting all three into the raw and beautifully messy chaos of adulthood.
Mythic fantasy follow-up The Legend of Hei 2 from GKids debuts in moderate release on 340 screens. When an attack shatters the fragile peace between the spirit world and humanity, Hei teams up with Luye, the last disciple of his Shifu Wuxian, to expose a conspiracy that threatens both realms and the bond they’ve sworn to protect. With hand-drawn animation from MTJJ and Gu Jie, The Legend of Hei 2 is at $70 million at the China box office, according to reports. This is the follow-up to 2019’s The Legend of Hei that clocked $48 million in international mostly from China.
Also noting the distributor’s re-release of the 4K remaster of Nobuhiro Yamashita’s cult classic Linda Linda Linda at the IFC Center). Expands to LA next week.
Animated Light Of the World by faith-based multimedia collective the Salvation Poem Project opens wide on 2,000+ screens. Directed by John Schafer and former Disney animator Tom Bancroft, who worked on films from The Lion King to Mulan and Aladdin, this is the 2D hand-drawn animated story of Jesus through the eyes of the Apostle John. Faith-based, especially for kids, can really work. Angel Studios’ animated The King Of Kings, which opened in April, grossed $60 million domestic and $77 million worldwide.
Kino Lorber documentary Riefenstahl opens tonight in NYC at Quad and Lincoln Center with helmer Andres Veiel at both for Q&As this weekend. Explores German director Leni Riefenstahl’s artistic legacy and her complex ties to the Nazi regime as Hitler’s favorite moviemaker, juxtaposing her self-portrayal with evidence suggesting awareness of the regime’s atrocities. Premiered in Venice last year, read Deadline’s interview with Veiel. It’s 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with 39 reviews.
Magnolia Pictures documentary A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant by Bill Banowsky debuts at IFC Center in NY. The life and career of the Pulitzer prize-winning political cartoonist, one of America’s most celebrated and feared over five decades and ten U.S. Presidents. He took on the powers that be, sending up everyone from Ho Chi Minh to Donald Trump. The film looks at the key role of political cartoons in global democracies, the decline of the profession amid a newspaper industry meltdown and the effects of extreme political partisanship on media and editorial cartooning.
TORN: The Israel-Palestine Poster War On NYC Streets opens at Cinema Village in New York. Adds LA’s Laemmle’s Town Center next week. From Hemdale Films, which was revived recently as a distribution label. The doc by Nim Shapira focuses on the street war that broke out between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups that tore down each other’s messages about the 250 hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 terror attack in Israel.
Documentary Democracy Noir opens at Angelika Village East, adds LA September 19. As Viktor Orbán dismantles Hungary’s democratic institutions, three women, a journalist, a politician, and a nurse, work tirelessly to fight for their country’s soul. An exposé of far-right nationalism and a beacon of resistance directed by Connie Field, produced by Field and Sigrid Dyekjær (The Cave). Nods include Best Documentary, Sebastopol Film Festival; Best Human Rights Film, Chicago International Women’s Film Festival; Best Documentary and Impact Award, Boston Film Festival; and Jury Award, One World Festival Prague.
The American Southwest by Ben Masters (The River and the Wall, Deep in the Heart), from Fin and Fur Films and NativesOutdoors, a call to action on water and wildlife conservation, opens on 72 screens across Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, California, Texas and Colorado. Narrated by climate justice advocate Quannah ChasingHorse, the doc is a cinematic journey down the Colorado River combining wildlife sequences with voices from the land to capture the spirit of the Southwestern U.S. and the region’s urgent ecological challenges of water scarcity, habitat loss and climate change.