A one-week reissue of Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Devils has turned into an open-ended theatrical hold after a $1.7 million opening. Warner Bros. Clockwork, which oversaw the restoration, said the extension was due to “popular demand.” The uncensored director’s cut opened in 350 North American locations last weekend and recorded a $4,925 per-screen average.
That per-screen number is the detail worth watching. For a re-release of a decades-old NC-17 title, it signals concentrated interest rather than broad casual footfall. Clockwork plans to keep the film in cinemas “as long as it keeps performing,” according to an individual with knowledge of the release plans, and has moved the second weekend to 315 locations while monitoring sales.
Why a censored 1971 film is finding an audience
The release marks the first time the uncensored director’s cut is available everywhere. Clockwork premiered the remastered version at Cannes and then brought it to Il Cinema Ritrovato, Toronto, New York, BFI London, Sitges and Festival Lumière, among others.
That festival route matters. It built the title’s reputation with cinephiles before the commercial run, so opening weekend did not have to create awareness from scratch. The film has been championed by movie lovers such as Guillermo del Toro. Russell’s film, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, was controversial in its day for its depiction of religion, power and corruption, and the original release was altered. The reconstructed cut was completed in 2004 under Russell and editor Michael Bradsell, with Mark Kermode and Paul Joyce; the 4K restoration used the original camera negative at WB Water Tower Color, with audio from original composite 35mm mag film at WB Sound.
The numbers behind the hold
- Opening: over $1.7 million from 350 North American locations
- Per-screen average: $4,925
- Second weekend: 315 locations, with the hold tied to ticket sales
- International rollout: Poland from October 23; France October 28; Australia/New Zealand and Germany/Austria October 29; U.K. and Ireland October 30; Greece and the Netherlands November 12
What media teams can use
This is a useful event-cinema case study. A package is clearly working: a famous controversy, a restoration story, festival credibility, and an open-ended rather than fixed window. The film does not need to be a mainstream hit; with a $4,925 per-screen average, the economics work for select locations and loyal audiences.
The international schedule then turns a single-market success into a rolling release calendar. For programmers with similar restored catalogue titles, the play is to make scarcity explicit and leave holdover decisions to live data rather than a pre-set end date.
Source: IndieWire
