Looks like somebody could also be barking his solution to box-office glory.
IFC simply expanded the October 3 theatrical run of Ben Leonberg’s SXSW hit “Good Boy” from restricted to a full broad launch. Told completely from the canine’s perspective, the 72-minute horror film stars Leonberg’s Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Indy. The actual variety of screens is but to be decided, however IFC is bullish on its mass enchantment. It’s a title that may additionally observe within the footsteps of a number of different current successes from the corporate.
Rebranded as Independent Film Company (IFC) earlier this yr, IFC now appears to have a bona fide hit on its arms. Since the trailer’s debut August 18, it has racked up 1 million views (with one other 1.5 million views for the trailer as posted on IGN’s account).
(Also: Since the trailer dropped, searches for “Does the dog in Good Boy die?” spiked by greater than 2,000 p.c.)
“We’re a bespoke company and we really pay attention to what people want to see,” Scott Shooman, head of IFC Entertainment Group (which oversees IFC, Shudder, and RLJE Films), advised IndieWire. “Last year was our second-best theatrical year ever and we want to continue that. We see an opportunity as the studios are moving to three- and four-quadrant business for the indies to try and find interesting, noisy product and try to make it as big as possible.”
“Good Boy” has a playbook to observe: IFC’s “Late Night with the Devil” and “In a Violent Nature” each reached round 1,400 screens in 2024, grossing $10 million and $4.2 million, respectively. They’re additionally the quantity #4 and #16 on the record of highest-grossing movies in IFC’s historical past.
The high spot on that record is occupied by 2002’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” with an untouchable $241 million field workplace. However, Shooman indicated he doesn’t think about it to be a real IFC film because it solely dealt with distribution in a service deal. That would make the second title on that record, Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood,” with its $25 million gross as IFC’s greatest hit.
After former president Arianna Bocco left the corporate in March 2023, Shooman was put in shortly thereafter. Since then, the corporate sundown its style imprint IFC Midnight in favor of the corporate’s streamer, Shudder, which now represents all the firm’s horror content material. “Good Boy” will bear each the IFC and Shudder logos, however its streaming date is TBD.
“We have different windows for different types of films, and we’re working on that for ‘Good Boy’ as we speak,” Shooman stated. “We never want to pre-announce a date prematurely. What we can say is we hope everyone sees it in theaters on October 3rd, and that’s really where we’re pointing people right now.”
“Good Boy” might observe within the footsteps of the R-rated “Late Night with the Devil” and the unrated “In a Violent Nature,” however it is also one thing that these gory motion pictures weren’t. “It’s a PG-13 film,” Shooman stated. “I don’t think there’s any age limit on loving dogs.”
Shooman is assured that audiences will proceed to awww after they be taught extra about how Leonberg made the movie. “It’s exactly the story of how you’d want an independent movie to have come together,” he stated. “Ben made it with his own dog. This is his dog! This is not a stage dog, and it’s just like this is the magic and why we all got into this business.”
Additional reporting by Brian Welk.
“Good Boy” releases in theaters from IFC on Friday, October 3.
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