Animation, foreign-language, documentary and faith-based films all contributed to a relatively buoyant 2025 for independent fare. Screen scores the hits and misses.
The first third of the year may not be the obvious time for independent and specialised films to find success at the North American box office. But the period — especially the months of March and April — does have its advantages. “It’s a time when studios are releasing their smaller movies,” says one leading US independent distributor, “so that creates an opportunity.”
Early 2025 certainly presented earning opportunities to some of last season’s awards contenders. A24’s The Brutalist, for example, took most of its $16.3m North American gross in 2025, after its late-December domestic launch. Christmas Day openers A Complete Unknown (from Searchlight) and Nosferatu (from Focus Features) captured around half of their respective totals of $75.0m and $95.6m this year, and Brazilian Oscar winner I’m Still Here, from Sony Pictures Classics (SPC), garnered almost all of its impressive $6.2m.
Foreign and non-fiction films also found a lane early in the year, with Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 grossing $20.9m in February through CMC Pictures and rock doc Becoming Led Zeppelin scoring $10.4m through SPC in the same month, thanks in part to an Imax-led release strategy.
March and April proved lucrative months for indie films with mainstream crossover potential. After a $74m domestic hit last summer with Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, Neon launched the filmmaker’s horror comedy The Monkey in late February and took a still-impressive $39.7m.
Fast-growing ‘values-based’ distributor Angel Studios made the most of the pre-Easter period by registering a $60.2m hit with Christian-themed animated feature The King Of Kings and Fathom Entertainment used the window to release The Chosen: Last Supper in three parts, which between them grossed $44.4m.
Other March and April releases opened to varying results. A24’s Iraq combat drama Warfare, directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, was given a wide release and the $25.9m domestic take was a solid result, even if it fell well short of the $69m A24 garnered with Garland’s (bigger-budget) Civil War in April 2024.
Less successful were A24’s fantasy comedy Death Of A Unicorn, which managed $12.9m domestically, and Focus Features’ Black Bag, a relatively expensive spy thriller from Steven Soderbergh that ended its domestic run with $21.5m.
Feel the heat
With the summer box-office season now beginning, indie and specialised distributors are hoping their films can stay competitive during a period normally associated with mainstream blockbusters. The recent run of big openings for the likes of A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch has created momentum that, some argue, will benefit indie as well as studio releases. “There’s a great tailwind,” says the indie distributor. “Now there’s an opportunity for independents to find success in the summer.”
May produced healthy runs for A24’s Toronto-launched comedy Friendship ($12.4m at press time) and Angel Studios’ inspirational drama The Last Rodeo ($10.8m). Wes Anderson’s Cannes Competition entry The Phoenician Scheme opened with a robust $570,000 from an initial six sites for Focus Features. Danny and Michael Philippou’s horror mystery Bring Her Back — with which A24 looks to emulate the success of the directors’ summer 2023 breakout Talk To Me — began with $7.1m.
In June, busy A24 will open Sundance prize-winner Sorry, Baby and, just in time for wedding season, Materialists, writer/director Celine Song’s romcom follow-up to her summer 2023 hit Past Lives.
Set for July are Neon’s horror comedy Together, another Sundance crowdpleaser, and A24’s Ari Aster-directed Cannes competitor Eddington. August will offer Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest (A24), and September will bring Focus Features’ Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.
Likely to find their way onto distributors’ schedules in the autumn as awards season gets underway are several of this year’s Cannes honorees, among them Neon’s Palme d’Or victor It Was Just An Accident and grand prix winner Sentimental Value, and Mubi’s Sound Of Falling, which shared the jury prize.
And already set for autumn slots are Daniel Day-Lewis drama Anemone, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia and Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, all from Focus, as well as A24’s Timothee Chalamet comedy Marty Supreme.
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