If you don’t live in Los Angeles or New York or you do and just haven’t had a chance to go out and see director Asif Kapadia’s Senna, one of the best documentaries of the year about one of the greatest race car drivers of all time, don’t worry. You’re going to get your chance.
How do we know? Well, the doc is doing so well at the LA and NYC box office, averaging over $35K per screen, that the film’s distributor, Producers Distribution Agency, are planning to take it into 11 new markets and put it on 15 more screens this weekend.
“Obviously, we’re thrilled with the opening,” said John Sloss, co-founder of the Producers Distribution Agency in the article. “What it proves, both numerically and anecdotally, is that the film plays well beyond the core. We knew from our advance screenings, to our surprise, that the film played better to women that even gearheads, and they showed up. This movie is much more playable than it is marketable, so we couldn’t be happier with this word-of-mouth base.”
In case you’re not familiar with the film (even though you should be) it “follows the story of Ayrton Senna, perhaps the greatest race-car driver who ever lived. In the mid ‘80s, Senna burst onto the world of Formula One racing. As a Brazilian in a predominantly European sport, he had to fight hard both on (against his nemesis, French World Champion Alain Prost) and off (against the politics that infest the sport) the track.”
That description doesn’t really do the film justice. If you like compelling stories, great characters and fast cars, this doc is for you. Be sure to check it out.
