Seems to be like somebody could also be barking his approach to box-office glory.
IFC simply expanded the October 3 theatrical run of Ben Leonberg’s SXSW hit “Good Boy” from restricted to a full vast launch. Instructed totally from the canine’s viewpoint, the 72-minute horror movie stars Leonberg’s Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Indy. The precise variety of screens is but to be decided, however IFC is bullish on its mass enchantment. It’s a title that may additionally comply with within the footsteps of a number of different latest successes from the corporate.
Rebranded as Impartial Movie Firm (IFC) earlier this 12 months, IFC now appears to have a bona fide hit on its fingers. Because the trailer’s debut August 18, it has racked up 1 million views (with one other 1.5 million views for the trailer as posted on IGN’s account).
(Additionally: Because the trailer dropped, searches for “Does the canine in Good Boy die?” spiked by greater than 2,000 %.)
“We’re a bespoke firm and we actually take note of what folks need to see,” Scott Shooman, head of IFC Leisure Group (which oversees IFC, Shudder, and RLJE Movies), advised IndieWire. “Final 12 months was our second-best theatrical 12 months ever and we need to proceed that. We see a chance because the studios are transferring to three- and four-quadrant enterprise for the indies to try to discover attention-grabbing, noisy product and attempt to make it as large as attainable.”
“Good Boy” has a playbook to comply with: IFC’s “Late Night time with the Satan” and “In a Violent Nature” each reached round 1,400 screens in 2024, grossing $10 million and $4.2 million, respectively. They’re additionally the quantity #4 and #16 on the checklist of highest-grossing movies in IFC’s historical past.
The highest spot on that checklist is occupied by 2002’s “My Large Fats Greek Wedding ceremony” with an untouchable $241 million field workplace. Nonetheless, Shooman indicated he doesn’t think about it to be a real IFC film because it solely dealt with distribution in a service deal. That may make the second title on that checklist, Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood,” with its $25 million gross as IFC’s greatest hit.
After former president Arianna Bocco left the corporate in March 2023, Shooman was put in shortly thereafter. Since then, the corporate sundown its style imprint IFC Midnight in favor of the corporate’s streamer, Shudder, which now represents the entire firm’s horror content material. “Good Boy” will bear each the IFC and Shudder logos, however its streaming date is TBD.
“We now have totally different home windows for various kinds of movies, and we’re engaged on that for ‘Good Boy’ as we converse,” Shooman mentioned. “We by no means need to pre-announce a date prematurely. What we are able to say is we hope everybody sees it in theaters on October third, and that’s actually the place we’re pointing folks proper now.”
“Good Boy” could comply with within the footsteps of the R-rated “Late Night time with the Satan” and the unrated “In a Violent Nature,” but it surely is also one thing that these gory motion pictures weren’t. “It’s a PG-13 movie,” Shooman mentioned. “I don’t suppose there’s any age restrict on loving canines.”
Shooman is assured that when audiences will proceed to awww once they be taught extra about how Leonberg made the movie. “It’s precisely the story of the way you’d need an unbiased film to have come collectively,” he mentioned. “Ben made it together with his personal canine. That is his canine! This isn’t a stage canine, and it’s identical to that is the magic and why all of us received into this enterprise.”
Extra reporting by Brian Welk.
“Good Boy” releases in theaters from IFC on Friday, October 3.