Did How to Blow Up A Pipeline get a wide U.S. theatrical release?

May 21, 2023 5:25 PM

How To Blow Up A Pipeline was released on April 7 in the U.S., but typing zip codes into the Neon site results in just 1 theater each in NYC and LA and none for the other largest U.S. cities. Did I miss it going wide? The Wikipedia page has a "Concerns raised by authorities" section. Did Neon get scared to release it widely? Did theater chains reject it?

It's available streaming at a few outlets but I'm surprised it came and went without ever showing up anywhere in my state (NC) that I could find, and I'm curious about why.

posted by mediareport to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Best answer: According to Box Office Mojo its widest release was 530 theaters. It did play here in Seattle last month, at least at one non-chain theater (the SIFF Cinema Uptown).
posted by mbrubeck at 5:40 PM on May 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I'd forgotten Box Office Mojo's domestic charts include the # of theaters each week of release, thanks! That's very helpful. So it had a week at 140 theaters, a week at 530 theaters, 4/21 to 4/27, and then down to 60, and presumably less after that. Better than some indies, I suppose, though it seems odd that I never saw it in NC. Maybe I just missed it for the brief time it was here.

I'd read that the producers had a lot of trouble getting financing, and I was wondering if that continued with distribution/advertising. Could have played a role, I suppose.
posted by mediareport at 6:04 PM on May 21, 2023

I was also annoyed to have missed its brief appearance in my area.
posted by Reverend John at 6:22 PM on May 21, 2023

Mod note: No bittorent links folks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:16 PM on May 22, 2023