Ari Aster’s ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Scores Biggest Indie Box Office Opening of 2023
variety.comRebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Ari Aster’s latest anxiety-inducer “Beau Is Afraid” is taking the indie box office by storm.
The A24 film, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as an apprehensive man who endures a lot over the course of three hours, grossed $320,396 on four screens in New York and Los Angeles.
Those ticket sales translate to a sizable $80,099 per location, the biggest screen average of the year. It’s also the second-best per-screen-average for A24 after Adam Sandler’s “Uncut Gems.” Now, “Beau Is Afraid” needs to sustain its momentum as it expands nationwide next weekend.
That’s been a struggle for plenty of indies in post-pandemic times, although A24 has managed to propel films like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Whale” to box office success.
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