Box Office: ‘Let Him Go’ Nabs Back-To-Back No. 1 After ‘Come Play’ For Focus Features

Right now, the film industry is contented with modest returns and milestones.

Focus Features’ Let Him Go takes the No. 1 box office spot for its domestic debut this weekend at $4.1 million. This is the most that any newly released film has earned in a weekend in the past six weeks. It follows another Focus film, the horror-thriller Come Play which also climbed to the top spot in the previous week. It opened at $3.2 million and grossed a 10-day domestic total of $5.6 million. This marks a first for Focus Features to have two films open at no. 1 on back-to-back weekends.

Directed by Thomas Bezucha, Let Him Go was based on Larry Watson’s 2013 neo-Western novel of the same title. It reunites Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as a Montana couple in a quest to retrieve their 3-year-old grandson from his stepfather’s family in North Dakota. The suspense-filled drama has garnered favorable reviews and impressions from both critics and audiences.

Noticeably, Let Him Go is more targeted towards the older adult demographic, particularly those who are more reluctant to head back to cinemas. In regards to that, Focus Distribution boss Lisa Bunnell tells Deadline that they’re simply trying to keep theatres going. “There are moviegoers who want to go back to theaters,” Bunnell said. “If you don’t offer them a film, if you don’t give people the opportunity to see a movie, you’ll never know if they’ll go back or not.”

Bunnell also beamed at the label’s back-to-back box office no. 1. “We’re thrilled to have our second film open at No.1 in back-to-back weekends and equally excited to see audiences coming back to theaters to watch the caliber of storytelling from Kevin, Diane, and Lesley on the big screen.”

Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet crossed the $350 million mark in ticket sales at the worldwide box office. After its late-August release, the Warner Bros. film earned $55.1 million domestically and $295.6 million internationally. It’s not over for the film yet as it still has 16 markets to go through including India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Argentina. In comparison, Warner Bros.’s other film debut The Witches has continued to struggle grossing $3.5 million domestically bringing the international total to $10.1. It also continues to receive heat from the disability community.