Director Sean Baker‘s Anora opened theatrical many months ago, and delivered the best per-theater average of 2024. It was subsequently released on digital streaming platforms, making it more accessible to the masses who might not have been interested in watching it in theaters. But thanks to the film’s stupendous performance at the recent Oscars, it’s witnessing something of a theatrical resurgence. Anora has been displaying incredible spikes in revenue in the last few days, propelling itself back into the top 10 at the domestic box office.
On its first Thursday after the Oscars, Anora saw a humongous 854% increase in comparison to last week’s figures. The movie made nearly $150,000, as it pushed its domestic haul to around $16.5 million. Anora has grossed an additional $25 million from overseas markets, taking its cumulative global haul to over $40 million. The movie was produced on a reported budget of just $6 million, but Neon is said to have spent three times that amount on its Oscars campaign. The effort paid off, with Anora winning in five out of the six categories that it was competing in.
The film essentially swept the awards, winning in the Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, and Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Picture categories. Baker tied Walt Disney‘s record of winning four Oscars for the same film in a single year. Anora‘s astonishing awards run began much earlier in 2024, after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. It ended up becoming the first American production in over a decade to win the festival’s top honor, the Palme d’Or. Anora received acclaim for Baker‘s direction, and for Mikey Madison‘s lead performance as the titular character, a sex worker who finds herself in a tough spot after falling for a shady young man.
Madison Announced Her Arrival in a Grand Manner
The ingénue found herself in one of the tightest Best Actress races in years, with Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres, and Karla Sofía Gáscon providing tough competition during the awards season. Madison also won a BAFTA for her performance. Anora holds a “fresh” 93% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, in addition to an impressive 89% audience score. In his review, Collider‘s Chase Hutchinson praised Madison‘s performance, and described it as “a powerful performer with both the necessary patience and presence to hold every scene in her hands, no matter how chaotic it may get.” You can watch Anora at home and in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
via Collider