In a complex indie market things do pop and The Last Class, a documentary released in two theaters for limited runs on June 27, passed $610k this weekend, according to distributor Abramorama.
The documentary is pegged to social media star, academic and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who has taught over 40,000 students over four decades, as he prepares to deliver his final class at UC Berkeley. The course, Wealth and Poverty, is a deep dive into income inequality and the risks it poses to American society.
The film, which hit $610k after a $12.8k weekend on 16 screens, has seen extended runs, bring backs, encores and interest that’s unusual in the space, to the delight of Tom Hassell, Abramorama’s VP of Distribution, director Elliot Kirschner, and producer Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse, the head of Reich’s nonprofit Inequality Media. She founded CoffeeKlatch Productions with The Last Class as its first feature.
The film has had about 219 bookings so far, said Hassell, noting a few highlights: it played for eight weeks a the Quad in NYC, seven weeks in San Diego, four weeks at the Nuart in LA. It opened at Rialto Berkeley on July 1 and is still there. The Portland Museum of Art in Maine is having its biggest September ever on the film.
It skews older and “we’ve had exhibitors raving about what it’s done for their summers, since many of these patrons are back in the building for the first time in years, on top of the box office results,” he said.
Abramorama announced it had acquired North American theatrical rights in April. The Last Class weathered a wave of rejections from film festivals before making its premiere in mid-June at DC/DOX. In August, Reich’s latest book Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, came out, topping the New York Times Bestseller List.
“I think people were missing how popular and revered and beloved Robert Reich is,” said Kirschner. Reich, 79, has a large social media following including 1.32 million on his YouTube channel and 1.4 million on X (formerly Twitter).
He has been a prominent critic of Donald Trump, starting with the president’s first term and continuing into his second. But Kirschner said The Last Class filmmakers “understood the importance of not making it overly political, and giving hope to people.” It’s had holdovers in both red and blue states.
Josh Melrod (Major Arcana) is a producer. Lofthouse and Ian Cheney (Observer, The Most Unknown, King Corn) are EPs.
Reich served as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton and on President-Elect Obama’s transition advisory board. He has written eighteen books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into 22 languages; the best-sellers The Future of Success, Locked in the Cabinet, Supercapitalism, Aftershock, Beyond Outrage, The Common Good, Saving Capitalism, and The System. He is co-founding editor of The American Prospect magazine and co-founder of the Economic Policy Institute.
Limited openings: Mubi saw a nice debut for Oliver Hermanus’ romance The History Of Sound with an estimated $85.8k at 4 theaters in New York and Los Angeles That’s a per screen average of $21.4k for the Cannes-premiering film starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor that sold out multiple shows on both coasts ahead of its national expansion next weekend.
Bang Bang starring Tim Blake Nelson opened to $12k on 4 screens with sold out Q&A screenings in New York, LA and Des Moines. Released by Sunrise Films, the recently launched U.S. arm of U.K. distributor Vertigo Releasing,
Wide release: Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues opened at 1,920 locations in U.S. and Canada for a weekend gross of $1.67 million.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale from Focus Features grossed $18.1 million from 3,694 theatersand a no. 3 spot in the top ten.
Fathom Entertainment and Disney are projecting $1.49 million for the restored and remastered rerelease of The Sound Of Music for its 60th anniversary. It played 523 screens Friday and 1,178 screens Sat. and Sun and is at no. 10 at the domestic box office.
Holdovers: The Baltimorons from IFC grossed $300k in a week 2 expansion on 411 screens to a cume of $342k.
Twinless from Roadside Attractions is looking at an estimated gross of $164.4k on 191 screens in week 2 for a cume of $977k.
Animated faith-based The Light Of The World from The Salvation Poem Project grossed $950k in week 2 on 1,540 screens for a cume of $4 million.
Neon’s Splitsville is at a $1.75 million cume in week 4 after $140.8k on 336 screens.