Catch the Latest Hits: Bollywood Thrillers ‘Dhurandhar’, ‘Eternity’, ‘Hamnet’, ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’, and ‘The Secret Agent’ at the Specialty Box Office
A diverse lineup of independent films, including the Indian movie *Dhurandhar*, an anime compilation, and a slasher reboot, is competing at the box office. *Eternity* and *Hamnet* rounded out the domestic top ten, while *Silent Night, Deadly Night* brought back a familiar horror icon. Neon’s *The Secret Agent* continued its strong performance, and *The Met: Live in HD* once again proved to be an audience draw during a pre-Christmas weekend dominated by major studio releases.
Among the new openings, Mike P. Nelson’s reboot of the 1984 slasher film *Silent Night, Deadly Night*, from Cineverse, is projected to earn approximately $1.1 million across 1,640 theaters.
Meanwhile, Bryan Fuller’s *Dust Bunny*, featuring Mads Mikkelsen and Sophie Sloan, debuted to $339,000 from 402 screens.
Cinegalaxy released the Telugu film *Akhanda 2: Thaandavam* in 300 theaters, earning about $366,000 over the weekend, according to Comscore.
New limited releases included Janus Films’ *Resurrection* by Bi Gan, which opened on three screens with a gross of $64,200, achieving an impressive per-screen average of $21,400. This marks one of the first new Chinese films in the U.S. since the pandemic, and the director hosted sold-out Q&A sessions in New York and Los Angeles.
*Atropia*, directed by Hailey Benton Gates and awarded the Sundance U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Feature, opened with an estimated $9,000 at NYC’s IFC Center. The distributor’s *Rosemead*, featuring Lucy Liu, garnered $29,000 at LA’s AMC Century City, bringing its cumulative total to $85,000 in its second week. The film ranked among the theater’s best performers this weekend, highlighted by multiple sold-out shows, including a Q&A session hosted by Geena Davis.
In terms of holdovers, *Dhurandhar* from Moviegoers Entertainment ranked fourth in its second week, earning $3.45 million across 377 screens, summing up to a total of $7.89 million. This Hindi spy thriller, directed by Aditya Dhar and starring Ranveer Singh, delves into the intertwined lives of criminals, informants, and operatives.
The GKids anime offering, *Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution*, stands at sixth place in its second week, bringing in $2.1 million across 1,350 screens, contributing to a cumulative total of $14.5 million.
A24’s *Eternity*, directed by David Freyne, generated $1.77 million across 2,067 screens in its third week, raising its total gross to nearly $13 million.
Chloé Zhao’s *Hamnet* from Focus Features maintained a solid presence, projected to earn $1.5 million from 749 locations, leading to a cumulative gross of $7 million. A wider release is anticipated in January, and the film continues to impress audiences with a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes from viewers and 87% from critics.
The musical *Merrily We Roll Along*, produced by Sony Pictures Classics, is on track to earn $248,400 from 330 screens in its second week, totaling $2.2 million. The film features performances by Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez.
Neon’s *The Secret Agent*, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring Wagner Moura, grossed $234,000 from only 43 screens in its third week, for a total of $488,000.
In event cinema, *The Met: Live in HD* presented a Saturday transmission of Giordano’s *Andrea Chénier*, grossing $524,000 from approximately 800 screens. Conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni and featuring soprano Sonya Yoncheva and tenor Piotr Beczała, the encore screenings of *Andrea Chénier* will be available in select U.S. theaters on December 17.
