Independent films demonstrated resilience at the box office over the Super Bowl weekend, with several limited releases and holdovers achieving notable grosses despite competition from major events. Highlights included strong openings for 'Pillion' and 'Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience,' alongside milestones for A24's 'Marty Supreme' and Focus Features' 'Hamnet.' Global charts were led by the K-pop concert documentary from Stray Kids.
The Super Bowl and Winter Olympics created an unusual theatrical landscape on February 8, 2026, yet indie distributors reported impressive performances from their releases. A24's 'Pillion,' directed by Harry Lighton and starring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling, debuted to $241,800 across four screens in New York and Los Angeles, yielding a per-theater average of $60,200. The film, which won Best British Independent Film and Best Debut Screenwriter at the BIFAs and earned BAFTA nominations for Outstanding British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay, saw advance sellouts ahead of its wider rollout.
Focus Features' 'Hamnet,' an Oscar-nominated Shakespearean drama directed by Chloe Zhao and starring Jessie Buckley, added $750,000 from 925 theaters over the weekend, bringing its domestic cumulative to $21.8 million since its November debut. Globally, 'Hamnet' reached $70.5 million, with $48.7 million from international markets against a $34 million budget. It holds eight Oscar nominations, including best director and actress.
Bleecker Street's 'Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience,' a concert documentary from Live Nation Studios capturing the K-pop band's world tour and SoFi Stadium show, opened to $5.56 million on 1,725 screens, securing the No. 4 spot domestically. This marked Bleecker's second-biggest opening ever, behind 'Logan Lucky' in 2017, and the first release from its new Crosswalk label. Globally, it topped charts with $19.1 million, including $13.2 million overseas and $5.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, outperforming prior K-pop docs like BTS's 'Yet to Come' ($29 million total). "We are thrilled that the results this weekend reinforce our mission in this space," Bleecker Street stated, noting added showtimes due to fan demand. Imax screenings contributed $3.9 million, or 20.5% of the global total.
Vertical's 'Dracula,' directed by Luc Besson, grossed $4.5 million on 2,050 screens, setting a new record for the distributor over last month's 'We Bury the Dead.' Elsewhere, A24's 'Marty Supreme,' starring Timothée Chalamet and directed by Josh Safdie, became the studio's highest-grossing worldwide release at $147 million, surpassing 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' ($142 million). The R-rated sports dramedy, with a $70 million budget, earned nine Oscar nominations, including best picture, and continues to expand internationally. Other notables included Neon's 'Sirat' at $136,300 on four screens and GKIDS' 'Kokuho' at $47,200 on three screens, the latter Oscar-nominated for Best Makeup & Hairstyling and Japan's highest-grossing live-action film at over $125 million domestically.
These results underscore the appeal of niche content during a slow wide-release weekend, with holdovers like Disney's 'Zootopia 2' adding $16.8 million to reach $1.8 billion globally.
