Bottoms Just Beat A Pandemic Era Box Office Record Set By Everything Everywhere All At Once
In what might be one of the most encouraging box office stories of recent memory, MGM's raunchy, R-rated comedy "Bottoms" had one heck of a debut at the box office this past weekend. The film, directed by Emma Seligman, debuted in limited release to get in on the National Cinema Day goodness, and that strategy certainly panned out — so much so that it actually broke a record held by this year's Best Picture Oscar winner "Everything Everywhere All at Once." That is good company to be in.
According to The Numbers, "Bottoms" debuted to $516,254 on just 10 screens across a few key markets in the U.S., including Los Angeles, New York City, and Austin. That gives the film a per-screen average of $51,625, which is mighty impressive. It now holds the distinction of the best per-screen average of the pandemic era for a movie that opened on ten screens or more. A24's "Everything Everywhere All at Once" previously held that record, debuting to $501,305 on ten screens last year and scoring a $50,130 per-screen average.
We're talking about a movie that went on to become A24's highest-grossing release ever, with the film eventually making $141.2 million worldwide. That's not to say that "Bottoms" is going to see that same exact level of success when it rolls out wide this upcoming weekend, but this is absolutely a good omen.
Can Bottoms go the distance?
"Bottoms, which stars Rachel Sennott and "The Bear" breakout Ayo Edebiri, debuted at SXSW earlier this year to rave reviews from critics. You can read /Film's review from the festival right here. The comedy centers on two girls, PJ and Josie, who start a fight club as a way to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. The club quickly gains traction, with the popular girls and the not-so-popular girls beating each other up in the name of self-defense. The film carries an $11.3 million production budget, which is relatively small, easing the burden of how much it needs to make back at the box office to become profitable.
It's been a tough stretch for comedy at the box office since the pandemic began, with only "The Lost City" and "Ticket to Paradise" truly breaking out as romantic comedy theatrical hits. Jennifer Lawrence's "No Hard Feelings" ($86.6 million) got close, but its $45 million budget looms large. The misses have far outweighed the hits. However, the early turnout for this movie has been encouraging, and we've seen these slow-build, platform releases work well recently for other studios.
Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City" had a stupefyingly great $853,382 debut in just six theaters earlier this year, before giving the filmmaker the best single weekend of his career. That film is now a few nickels shy of crossing the $50 million mark globally. If "Bottoms", another out-of-the-box R-rated comedy, can similarly find its footing with general moviegoers in the coming weeks, it could be a win for original cinema and a great start to the fall moviegoing season. Here's hoping.
"Bottoms" is in select theaters now and expands wide on September 1, 2023.