Indie Films Flood US Theatres as Bourdain Biopic, Camp Miasma Horror Expand Wide

A24's Anthony Bourdain biopic "Tony" expands to more than 1,640 North American screens on August 21, 2026, moving from its six-theatre New York and Los Angeles launch into nationwide release in its third week (Deadline). Directed by Matt Johnson and starring Dominic Sessa as a young Bourdain whose summer job at a Cape Cod seafood restaurant changes his life, the film posted roughly $349,000 from its opening weekend — one of the strongest limited debuts of 2026 by per-screen average (Deadline). Antonio Banderas co-stars; A24 produced with Star Thrower and Zapruder Films (Deadline).

Close behind, Mubi's surreal horror "Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma" widens to 1,036 screens in its own third week (Deadline). Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, the film stars Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder. It debuted August 7 on five screens with $251,000 and a $50,300 per-location average (Variety), then broadened across the top 15 US markets the following week (Deadline).

Vertical, meanwhile, makes its first move into family entertainment with "The Magic Faraway Tree," opening on 1,600 screens (Deadline). The fantasy adventure stars Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy and Nicola Coughlan, with Ben Gregor directing from a script by Simon Farnaby — the co-writer of "Wonka" and "Paddington 2." Adapted from Enid Blyton's children's book series, the film has already grossed $20 million in the UK and over $32 million internationally since its April opening there (Deadline).

Neon launches the weekend's arthouse horror entry, "It Ends," on five screens in New York and Los Angeles. Alex Ullam's debut feature premiered at SXSW in 2025 and carries a 95% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Deadline). Greenwich Entertainment opens Emmanuel Courcol's "The Marching Band," starring Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin, at the Angelika in New York; the French film premiered at Cannes in 2024 and has grossed $28 million internationally (Deadline).

Two further specialty titles round out the frame. Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber open "How To Divorce During The War," by Lithuanian director Andrius Blazevicius, at the IFC Center; it won the World Cinema Best Director award at Sundance (Deadline). Watermelon Pictures' "American Doctor" adds the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles after a $50,000 exclusive debut at the Angelika the prior weekend (Deadline).

On the wider commercial side, Black Bear opens the comedy "Spa Weekend" wide (Deadline), and the ticketing platform Fandango enters theatrical distribution with "House of Worship," a concert event film featuring 25 Christian music artists (Deadline).

For audiences, the upshot is a crowded marque from arthouse to multiplex: a Bourdain origin story, a camp horror oddity, a Blyton family fantasy, and a slate of festival favourites all competing for screens on the same late-August weekend.