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‘Anora’ & The Perils of the Platform Release

Sean Baker’s Cannes-winning dramedy wowed in six theaters this weekend, but in a world of fractured and fatigued audiences, can word of mouth still sustain a movie from a few screens to a few hundred?

anora movie
‘Anora’ became the first American Palme d’Or winner since Terrence Malick’s ‘The Tree of Life’ in 2011 and is considered an awards favorite. Photo: Courtesy of Neon
Scott Mendelson
October 22, 2024

Anora, Sean Baker’s acclaimed romantic dramedy, is quickly racking up street cred. The film, about a sex worker who marries an oligarch’s son, became the first American Palme d’Or winner since Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life in 2011 and is considered an awards favorite—as is its breakout star, Mikey Madison. Anora also just debuted with the decade’s second-largest per-theater box office average. The Neon release nabbed $550,503 from just six theaters—an average of $91,000 per venue. That’s second only to Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, which averaged $142,000 in the summer of 2023 from each of its initial six theaters.