‘Hail Satan?’ Documentary Scores at Indie Box Office on Easter Weekend

Sharp-witted documentary on The Satanic Temple arrived in limited release just in time for Easter

Hail Satan? Lucien Grieves Penny Lane
Magnolia Pictures

Sundance darling documentary “Hail Satan?” was released just in time for Easter weekend, and it was able to avoid box-office damnation.

Magnolia released Penny Lane’s documentary at the IFC Center in New York this past Wednesday, with Los Angeles receiving the film at the ArcLight Hollywood and The Landmark on Friday. From those three screens, “Hail Satan?” earned a solid $25,700, for a per-screen average of $8,567. The film has earned critical acclaim for its surprising examination of The Satanic Temple, challenging preconceived notions about the organization and documenting the media stunts it performs in the name of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. It has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The top per-screen average of the weekend went to A24’s “Under the Silver Lake,” which earned $40,157 from two screens for an average of $20,079. Written by David Robert Mitchell, the film stars Andrew Garfield as a disenchanted millennial who goes on a wild chase for a mysterious woman who appeared in his swimming pool before vanishing without a trace. Reviews for the film were mixed with a 53% RT score.

Also releasing this weekend was IFC’s “Red Joan,” which grossed $40,631 from four screens for an average of $10,158. The film stars Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson as Joan Stanley, a woman who was arrested by MI5 after it was revealed that she leaked nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviets. The film has received negative reviews with a 34% RT score.

Among holdovers, Neon’s “Amazing Grace” added $591,000 to raise its total to $1.3 million, while Annapurna/United Artists/Laika’s “Missing Link” held on well despite a weak opening, earning $4.3 million in its second weekend for a 10-day total of just under $13 million.

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