Mubi boss calls $20m 'Primetime' opening incredible at Zurich Summit
A $20 million opening weekend for a film like ‘Primetime’ is “incredible”. That was the message from Mubi founder and chief executive Efe Cakarel during an appearance at the Zurich Summit, where he praised director Lance Oppenheim’s Venice hit Variety.
Cakarel spoke during the 12th edition of the summit, which runs from 25 to 27 September 2026 at The Dolder Grand Deadline Yahoo. The event brings film executives, producers and financiers together above Zurich to talk deals and release plans. His keynote focussed on Mubi’s growth from a niche streaming service into a global streamer, producer and distributor. He is listed in the official programme as founder and chief executive.
He pointed to younger audiences turning out for ‘Primetime’ as an encouraging sign. Those viewers are an “incredibly healthy demographic”, he said Variety. An opening weekend means the first Friday to Sunday on release, the three days that often set the tone for a cinema run.
Oppenheim has described an unusual starting point for the project. A $40 Cameo video request from television presenter Chris Hansen became the film ‘Primetime’, he said Variety. Cameo is a website where fans pay public figures for short personal videos. Oppenheim also said he kept a separate project, ‘You Can See Everything’, secret for four years.
Cakarel used the Zurich stage to look back on Mubi’s own slow build. He said he started the organisation 19 years ago Variety. It grew from zero to 40 staff in its first 15 years, then from 40 to more than 400 in the past four years. That is fast growth.
He described 2023 and 2024 as phenomenal years for the business, with 2025 slower by comparison. He said it took 15 years before Mubi could even imagine financing a film by Paweł Pawlikowski, the director behind the Cannes winner ‘Fatherland’. The point was simple. Scale came late.
For fans, this means Mubi is now operating on two fronts at once. It buys and shows other people’s films, and it backs new ones for cinemas and for its own service. ‘Primetime’ sits in the first group, but Cakarel’s comments suggest he sees its young crowd as a clue to where cinema audiences go next.
