Indie Film Box Office: ‘Hadestown’ Now Top Grossing Live Theater Capture

Independents from Hadestown to The Invite did their part to fuel one of the biggest weekends in box office history led by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Odyssey and other studio heavyweights.

Hadestown: The Musical from Bleecker Street grossed $2 million in week 2 on 1,567 screens for a cume of $18.2 million, surpassing Hamilton as the top grossing live capture of a musical and nabbing the no. 6 spot at the domestic box office. Hadestown, captured from the West End production featuring the original principal cast, opened strong last weekend at $9.7 million on 1,949 screens in a crowded market.

Disney released the Hamilton film in theaters in September, 2025 to celebrate the musical’s 10th anniversary on Broadway and it topped out at about $17 million domestic, with another $4 million internationally. But it premiered much earlier on Disney+, back in the height of Covid in July of 2020.

A24’s The Invite passed the $20 million mark with a $1.2 million weekend on 792 screens. It’s no. 7 in week seven.

I Want Your Sex from Magnolia Pictures opened to $600k on 700 screens.

Angel Studio’s Young Washington (week 5) and Obsession from Focus Features (week 12) rounded out the top 10.

Limited releases: The Samurai And The Prisoner, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cannes sensation from Janus Films, grossed $64.2k on 3 screens to the highest per-screen average of Kurosawa’s storied career (Cloud, Pulse, Cure, Tokyo Sonata) with sold out shows at IFC Center, Film at Lincoln Center and Landmark Nuart. Will add 20 screens next week and expand throughout August

Documentary Wild Inside by director Penny Lane about New York City superstar owl Flaco debuted exclusively at IFC to $20k, also with multiple sell outs. The Sandbox Films release followed a world premiere last week in Central Park attended by over 1,300 people. It adds three dozen engagements this Tuesday (International Owl Awareness Day), many serving as sneak peeks for new openings next weekend. It’s booked at 75 locations through August so far.