A24
Superhero and animated films like “Deadpool 2” and “Incredibles 2” may rule the summer box office every year, but some impressive indie films can also manage to break through the crowd.
This year saw first-time directors deliver a chilling horror and a coming-of-age drama, as well as three crowd-and-critic pleasing documentaries, make noise.
These films can go under the radar among the blockbusters, but 2018 has been a good year for films at the box office, including the smaller films.
These are the seven highest-grossing indie films this summer, according to box-office analytical service Exhibitor Relations.
Below are the seven highest-grossing indies at the US box office in summer 2018:
7. “Three Identical Strangers”
Total box-office gross: $10 million
Description: “Three strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity, however, the fairy-tale reunion sets in motion a series of events that unearth an unimaginable secret –– a secret with radical repercussions for us all.”
6. “Eighth Grade”
Total box-office gross: $10.5 million
Description: “Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school—the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year—before she begins high school.”
5. “Upgrade”
Total box-office gross: $12 million
Description: “After his wife is killed during a brutal mugging that also leaves him paralyzed, Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, PROMETHEUS) is approached by a billionaire inventor with an experimental cure that will “upgrade” his body. The cure–an Artificial Intelligence implant called STEM–gives Grey physical abilities beyond anything experienced, and the ability to relentlessly claim vengeance against those who murdered his wife and left him for dead.”
4. “RBG”
Total box-office gross: $13 million
Description: “At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But the unique personal journey of her rise to the nation’s highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans – until now. RBG explores Ginsburg’s life and career.”
3. “Sorry to Bother You”
Total box-office gross: $16 million
Description: “In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a macabre universe.”
2. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Total box-office gross: $21 million
Description: “In Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (Twenty Feet from Stardom) looks back on the legacy of Fred Rogers, focusing on his radically kind ideas. While the nation changed around him, Fred Rogers stood firm in his beliefs about the importance of protecting childhood. Neville pays tribute to this legacy with the latest in his series of highly engaging, moving documentary portraits of essential American artists.”
1. “Hereditary”
Total box-office gross: $44 million
Description: “When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. Making his feature debut, writer-director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown that exhibits the craft and precision of a nascent auteur, transforming a familial tragedy into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with its shattering portrait of heritage gone to hell.”
