Indie Specialized Box Office Chart: ‘Pinocchio: Unstrung’ Doesn’t Have the Same Pull as ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey’
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- Rhys Frake-Waterhouse's "Pinocchio: Unstrung" opened to $386K from 500 screens, topping IndieWire's specialized box office chart for 7/24-7/26 and surpassing the domestic total of his "Bambi: The Reckoning" ($408.8K)
- The "Pinocchio" debut trails both "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" films, which opened to $652K (2023) and $533K (sequel) and each surpassed $7 million worldwide
- "Haunted Heist," directed by Lil Rel Howery and starring Tiffany Haddish, placed #2 with $302K from 373 screens
- Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Sheep in the Box" (Neon) earned $31,450 from just three screens, sneaking into the Top 10
- "Ueck," a documentary on Milwaukee Brewers Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker, earned $68,139 from a Wisconsin-exclusive run via Marcus Theaters and landed at #4
- Five of the week's Top 10 specialized releases were new limited openings, a notably fresh slate
- "Jack Johnson: SURFILMUSIC" concert film held at #10 in its seventh week with $28,135
Why it matters: Frake-Waterhouse's 'Pinocchio' keeps the public-domain horror micro-genre alive but its $386K opening underperforms both 'Blood and Honey' debuts — suggesting audience appetite for the formula may be cooling after the original's novelty. The week was unusually fresh, with five of the Top 10 being new limited releases, a sign of how thin specialized distribution has become.
