A24's Bourdain Biopic 'Tony' Cracks the Top 10 in Wide Expansion
A24's "Tony" landed at No. 7 at the North American box office in its third weekend, grossing an estimated $5 million as it expanded from fewer than 40 screens to 1,642, according to Deadline. The film's cumulative gross now stands at $6.6 million. (Domestic, the United States and Canada.) Sunday figures are studio estimates until Monday's actuals.
Directed by Matt Johnson, "Tony" stars Dominic Sessa as a young Anthony Bourdain and Antonio Banderas as an early mentor. The film is a coming-of-age story set during a Cape Cod summer spent working at a lobster restaurant — the season that helped shape the man who would become one of America's most celebrated culinary voices. A24, Star Thrower, and Zapruder Films produce; A24 distributes.
The expansion caps a run that began impressively. On its opening weekend of 9 August, "Tony" grossed just shy of $349,000 across six theatres in New York and Los Angeles, posting a per-screen average of roughly $58,000 — the top per-theatre average of that frame, Deadline and The Wrap both reported. Deadline characterised it as one of the top limited openings of 2026 at the time of its launch.
Critical and audience reception has held strong. The film carries a 95% Certified Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes with a 92% audience score, per Deadline.
For Bourdain fans, the subject carries a particular resonance. A Focus Features documentary about Bourdain, released in July 2021, was the top-grossing documentary of the Covid era and helped jump-start the box office during a period of recovery, Deadline noted. A24 also sells a companion book, "Happier, Stupider Times: Anthony Bourdain's Provincetown Years," which describes Bourdain arriving in 1970s Provincetown with literary ambitions and no kitchen experience, starting as a dishwasher.
Several other independent titles crowded the lower rungs of the top ten this weekend. Black Bear's "Spa Weekend," starring Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau, and Anna Faris, opened at No. 9 with an estimated $3 million on just over 2,000 screens and a B+ CinemaScore. Mubi's "Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma," directed by Jane Schoenbrun and starring Gillian Anderson and Hanna Einbinder, rounded out the top ten with $1.9 million on 1,036 screens in its third-week nationwide expansion, for a cumulative $3.7 million.
Further down the chart, Vertical's family film "The Magic Faraway Tree," starring Andrew Garfield and based on a UK book series, debuted to $1.4 million at 1,611 theatres. Prathyangira Cinemas' Telugu family actioner "Irumudi," directed by Shiva Nirvana, opened to $1 million from 345 locations. Focus Features' sci-fi drama "Hot Spot" took $250,000 at 268 locations. Abramorama's storm-chasing documentary "Never Stop Chasing," with Reed Timmer, opened to $164,000 at 126 theatres. Neon's horror film "It Ends" managed $60,000 from five screens.
In limited release, Watermelon Pictures' documentary "American Doctor" grossed $32,000 at two theatres in New York and Los Angeles, bringing its two-week cumulative to $82,000. Greenwich opened the French film "The Marching Band" at the Angelika Film Center in New York City for an estimated three-day gross of $12,200.
