The RLJE / Shudder Title, directed by Eli Craig, Opened as the #1 New Film, and 5th Overall in the U.S. with $3.6 Million Box Office
IFC Entertainment Group had its biggest opening weekend box office success ever with the release of Eli Craig’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD, which grossed $3.6 million at the U.S. box office. The RLJE / Shudder film, which opened as the #1 new film in the US and 5th overall, lands the Group’s RLJE division its highest grosser to date and the Group’s widest theatrical opening, on 2,277 screens.
CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD’s opening weekend broke records for IFC Entertainment Group, surpassing its 2024 success LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL’s box office opening of $2.8 million, and IN A VIOLENT NATURE’s theatrical opening with 1,496 theaters last year.
“To say we are thrilled with the tremendous response to Eli Craig’s witty and playful adaptation of Adam Cesare’s chart-topping novel would be an understatement,” said Head of IFC Entertainment Group’s Scott Shooman. “This success is the result of great storytelling, tireless work from the entire team at IFC Entertainment Group and is a huge win for our RLJE division. Thanks to the guidance of Mark Ward, RLJE’s Chief Acquisition Officer, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD has become our largest theatrical grosser ever as well as the biggest box office opening weekend for our company. This speaks volumes to how the IFC Entertainment Group synergistically operates and how our brands are growing – aiming to deliver unique genre-leaning titles with mass appeal.”
Based on the Bram Stoker Award-winning horror novel by Adam Cesare, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is from Temple Hill Entertainment, the production team behind smash hit SMILE, and stars Katie Douglas (GINNY & GEORGIA), Carson MacCormac (SHAZAM!), Aaron Abrams (HANNIBAL), Will Sasso (THE THREE STOOGES) and Kevin Durand (ABIGAIL). The film made its World Premiere at SXSW in March and is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
The success of CLOWN comes on the heels of IFC Entertainment Group’s recently-announced brand refresh, which formalized the integrated structure of AMC Networks’ four distinct film verticals — Independent Film Company, IFC Center, RLJE, and the premiere horror streamer Shudder.
Upcoming 2025 titles for the IFC Entertainment Group include Sean Byrne’s thriller DANGEROUS ANIMALS, which will debut as part of Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight later this week, and Jay Duplass’s SXSW Audience Award-winning film THE BALTIMORONS.
About RLJE Films
AMC Networks’ RLJE Films is a distribution company whose releases include the Nicolas Cage phenomenon MANDY from Panos Cosmatos, S. Craig Zahler’s BONE TOMAHAWK starring Kurt Russell, and David Ayer’s action-packed THE TAX COLLECTOR. Recent films include Benjamin Brewer’s creature feature ARCADIAN, CHILDREN OF THE CORN, a chilling re-telling for a whole new generation from director Kurt Wimmer, Claudio Fäh’s high-concept shark thriller NO WAY UP, and John Stalberg Jr.’s MUZZLE.
About Shudder
AMC Networks’ Shudder, a premium streaming video service, super-serving members with the best selection in genre entertainment, covering horror, thrillers and the supernatural. This year marks the streamer’ s 10-year anniversary, marking a decade of the best in horror. “Shudder10” will feature the service’s most terrifyingly ambitious slate to date, along with special fan events, a nationwide screening series, customed merchandise and more. The milestone celebration follows a successful 2024 for Shudder as the streamer claimed six of the year’s top 10 titles on Rotten Tomatoes 2024 Horror list with LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL landing in the #1 spot. Shudder’s expanding library of film, TV series, and Original Content is available on most streaming devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Over the last few years, Shudder has introduced audiences to groundbreaking and critically acclaimed films including Rob Savage’s HOST, Jayro Bustamante’s LA LLORONA, Phil Tippett’s MAD GOD, Coralie Fargeat’s REVENGE, Joko Anwar’s SATAN’S SLAVES, Josh Ruben’s SCARE ME, Kyle Edward Ball’s SKINAMARINK, Christian Tafdrup’s SPEAK NO EVIL, Chloe Okuno’s WATCHER, Demián Rugna‘s WHEN EVIL LURKS, and the latest in the V/H/S film anthology franchise, as well as the fan favorite TV series THE BOULET BROTHERS’ DRAGULA, THE CREEP TAPES from Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice, and THE LAST DRIVE-IN WITH JOE BOB BRIGGS.
