Indie Specialized Box Office: Chefs, Slashers, Girl Scouts, and Cats Lead Stellar Week for Limited Releases

IndieWire each week exclusively shares a box office chart via Rentrak looking at the top 10 releases in specialized release, presented in full with added commentary.

We usually single out one movie from the indie slate that stood out in a given week. But at a time when “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” was setting box office records left and right, this was also an especially strong weekend for indies opening in limited release.

Of our weekly Specialized Top 10, six new openings cracked the list, and the top four on our list also all made the Top 20 overall for the week, with “CatVideoFest 2026” even landing at No. 10 for the week in a sign of that annual showcase’s enduring popularity. Those other new openings were A24’s Anthony Bourdain biopic “Tony,” which had one of the more impressive per-screen openings for an indie this year, the Girl Scout Cookies documentary produced by Harry and Meghan called “Cookie Queens,” Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” Kent Jones’ “Late Fame,” and last year’s TIFF coming-of-age comedy “Olmo.”

Let’s start with “CatVideoFest,” which is exactly what it sounds like, a compilation of feline internet videos edited together into something that screens in theaters. Festival curator Will Braden has been handpicking these videos since 2016, and some proceeds from the ticket sales all go to local animal shelters. Last year’s compilation surpassed $1 million domestic, and with more than half a million already, this latest edition is well on its way and only getting bigger.

A24’s “Tony” outpaced even “The Invite” from earlier this summer, scoring $360K from six screens for a per-screen average of $60,047. “The Invite” only had a PSA of $56K, so this is a great start, and “The Invite” has already now legged out to $42.8 million worldwide. “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” from MUBI, which placed No. 4 on our chart, was not far behind “Tony” in the PSA department, grossing $249,606 from five screens for a PSA of $50K. It’s one of MUBI’s best platform openings in years, as it opened well above last year’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” from Jim Jarmusch or films like “The Mastermind,” “The History of Sound,” or “Lurker.”

“Cookie Queens” opened on a lot of screens so it didn’t pull in the impressive per screen average, but it did have one of the better doc openings of the year, bringing in $350K so far, just behind “Tony.” Two other docs, Penny Lane’s owl documentary “Wild Inside” and the Bob Uecker documentary “Ueck” also found their way into the Top 10 this week.

Top 10 Specialized Releases 8/7-8/9 (all figures are domestic results courtesy of Rentrak)

1. “CatVideoFest 2026” – $568,414
   • Distributor: Oscilloscope
   • Week: 1
   • Avg/Location: $2,229
   • Cumulative: $568,414
2. “Tony” – $360,280
   • Distributor: A24
   • Week: 1
   • Avg/Location: $60,047
   • Cumulative: $360,280
3. “Cookie Queens” – $350,771
   • Distributor: Roadside Attractions
   • Week: 1
   • Avg/Location: $786
   • Cumulative: $350,771
4. “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” – $249,606
   • Distributor: MUBI
   • Week: 1
   • Avg/Location: $49,921
   • Cumulative: $249,606
5. “The Samurai and the Prisoner” – $179,875
   • Distributor: Janus Films
   • Week: 2
   • Avg/Location: $3,827
   • Cumulative: $280,228
6. “Sheep in the Box” – $45,841
   • Distributor: Neon
   • Week: 3
   • Avg/Location: $392
   • Cumulative: $163,087
7. “Wild Inside” – $43,777
   • Distributor: HBO Documentary Films
   • Week: 2
   • Avg/Location: $1,368
   • Cumulative: $103,761
8. “Late Fame” – $41,285
   • Distributor: Magnolia
   • Week: 1
   • Avg/Location: $20,643
   • Cumulative: $41,285
9. “Olmo” – $28,832
   • Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
   • Week: 1
   • Avg/Location: $565
   • Cumulative: $28,832
10. “Ueck” – $24,990
    • Distributor: September Club
    • Week: 3
    • Avg/Location: $806
    • Cumulative: $212,873