A24’s “Tony” Sizzles to $5M Weekend on Expansion to 1,642 Theaters, Specialty Box Office Says

A24’s “Tony,” the Matt Johnson-directed biographical coming-of-age film about Anthony Bourdain, generated a $5 million weekend and ranked No. 7 on specialty box office charts after expanding its release, according to Deadline. The report said the film added theaters significantly for its third-week run, moving to 1,642 locations after beginning at just under 40 theaters in the early stages of its release.

In the same period, “Tony” earned $6.6 million in cumulative domestic gross for week 3, Deadline reported. The weekend performance came as the film went wider, a pattern often associated with specialty titles that start limited and broaden only after initial results.

“Tony” stars Dominic Sessa as a young Anthony Bourdain and Antonio Banderas as an early mentor in a story that, according to Deadline, imagines Bourdain’s formative years and his path toward a career in food and travel media. The biopic is described as a character-focused narrative rather than a straightforward career chronology.

The distributor, A24, did not set out the expansion details in the report beyond the number of theaters and the timing of the wider rollout. Deadline’s account framed the release scale as a key driver of the improved weekend total, with the theater expansion largely explaining the move in chart position as the film entered more mainstream visibility.

Deadline’s specialty box office update also cited the film’s theater count increase as part of the broader context for specialty performance in the marketplace. With 1,642 runs, “Tony” joined a group of films that typically rely on concentrated audiences and then attempt to translate niche interest into wider theatrical reach.

The expanded release arrives as audiences and industry observers continue to track how independently distributed films find footing in domestic theaters, particularly in later weeks when additional locations can determine whether a title stays visible long enough to build momentum. For “Tony,” the reported weekend figures and cumulative gross suggest the wider roll-out translated into measurable demand during its third week.

For viewers, the practical effect is that more theaters carried “Tony” during the period covered by the report, increasing access beyond the initial limited footprint. The movie’s next box office updates would reflect whether the broader distribution continues to sustain attendance beyond week 3’s results.