Indie Films Crowd the Thanksgiving Calendar as Victorian Psycho Opens Wide
Bleecker Street has put Zachary Wigon's Victorian Psycho into 1,206 cinemas, one of several smaller films opening or growing ahead of Thanksgiving weekend, according to Deadline, published on 13 November 2026.
The film stars Maika Monroe as Winifred Notty, a governess, alongside Jason Isaacs, Ruth Wilson and Thomasin McKenzie. It is based on Virginia Feito's novel of the same name, and Feito wrote the screenplay. It first screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, a showcase for films outside the main competition.
Two other openings sit alongside it. Neon released James Gray's Paper Tiger in six theatres in New York and Los Angeles. The cast includes Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson. The film has two nominations at the Gotham Film Awards, for Best Feature and for Best Supporting Performance, the latter for Driver. Sony Pictures Classics opened Pedro Almodóvar's Bitter Christmas in New York and Los Angeles.
Expansions moved faster. Fox Searchlight widened Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine from 1,100 screens to 2,175. Amazon MGM took I Play Rocky from 7 locations to 29, and says it will push the film to 2,000 theatres next week. Independent Film Company grew Mouse from a limited opening on three screens to 375.
Smaller releases are growing in a more gradual way. A24's Club Kid reached 27 screens across major markets in its second week, up from six theatres in New York and Los Angeles. A24 is set to add more top markets next week, before a nationwide push over Thanksgiving weekend. 1-2 Special's Closure went from one New York theatre to five locations, adding Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Montclair, New Jersey.
Why does this matter? A limited opening lets a distributor test a film in a few cities, then decide where to spend on wider advertising and prints. Thanksgiving is one of the busiest stretches of the cinema year, when families and moviegoers have more time off, so a film that expands before the holiday gets a chance at a bigger audience. Several of these films are arriving in that window at once, which means they will compete for the same seats.
Thanksgiving weekend falls on 26 November this year. Until then, the widest openings will be measured against the bigger films already on screens, and every expansion announced this week is a bet that audiences will follow.
