The horror film, which marks the directorial debut of Alison Brie's actor husband, grabs over $420,800 from 251 select theaters and drive-ins across the country.
- July 27, 2020
AceShowbiz - Dave Franco's directorial debut has topped the U.S. box office.
Horror movie "The Rental", which stars the actor/filmmaker's wife Alison Brie, grabbed over $420,800 (£328,900) over its launch weekend from 251 theatres.
"I have been truly fortunate to have a partner in IFC Films whose agility and creativity during this time has allowed us to have this incredible moment for our film," Franco says in a statement. "As a first time filmmaker, I'm beyond grateful to the audiences who supported us this weekend."
IFC Films executive vice-president of film acquisitions and production, Arianna Bocco, tells Deadline, "We acquired this movie when we already knew there was a (cinema) shutdown, and when we pitched Dave... and everyone our plan, we weren't going to let the virus control (it). We're going to do the best that we can in a hybrid drive-in, PVOD (premium video on demand) model. We treated the film as we would with any other title... doing press. We had the first pop-up premiere in LA, and we thought outside the box. The one goal was to get as many people to see the movie and the result was best case scenario, and we couldn't be more thrilled."
Bocco went on to praise drive-in theaters, where the film was a huge hit.
Classic films "The Karate Kid", "The Goonies" and "Jurassic Park" also enjoyed a big weekend at drive-ins and select cinemas, while Vinnie Jones and Malcolm McDowell's action film "The Big Ugly" comes in fifth on the new box office list with a debut weekend of $150,000 (£118,000).
