Ildikó Enyedi's Venice Film Festival prize winner Silent Friend opened in two New York City locations with a per-theater average of $37.2k — the highest PTA for a non-English language release since Neon's Oscar-winning Sentimental Value, according to the distributor 1-2 Special.
The screenings sold out, both with and without Q&A events.
According to reporting from Deadline Hollywood, the film's $74.4k total gross from those two theaters indicates that audiences are responding to arthouse content, particularly when backed by Venice's critical prestige.
For indie distributors, this opening performance — where per-theater averages exceed those of recent prestige foreign-language releases — typically signals readiness for wider rollout. Silent Friend demonstrates that theatrical success in specialty cinema does not require multiplex saturation.
