“Time and Water,” the follow-up to “Fire of Love,” debuted with $8,048 on a single New York screen, landing at No. 8 on a new specialized weekend chart and topping specialized films on a per-screen basis for May 29–May 31.
For its opening weekend, “Time and Water” didn’t roll out like a typical release. It arrived on just one New York screen—and that tiny start immediately turned heads on the specialized side.
The film. directed by Sara Dosa and distributed by 1-2 Special. made $8. 048 from that single location before expanding slightly to Los Angeles and San Francisco on June 5. On IndieWire’s exclusive specialized chart—using data from Comscore. soon to be Rentrak—that one-screen performance was enough to lead all specialized films in per-screen-average terms.
It also cracked the Top 10 on IndieWire’s new weekend chart at #8. That chart tracks specialized releases alongside other platform openings, while still keeping a close eye on the indie and niche lane where “Fire of Love” found its footing.
Dosa’s previous film, “Fire of Love,” released in 2022, opened on just three screens and made $22,416 with a PSA of $7,472. “Fire of Love” went on to top out at $1.12 million domestic and $1.69 million worldwide. With “Time and Water” now off to an opening that—like its predecessor—moves slowly. it’s building anticipation around whether Dosa’s ruminative. poetic glacier love letter can land in the same neighborhood of outcomes.
In this week’s specialized standings, Black Bear’s “Tuner” took the top spot overall. After debuting on just four screens in its first weekend. it expanded to 452 for this frame—within this chart’s threshold. “Tuner” made $1.72 million and held a domestic cumulative haul of $1.87 thus far, alongside a $3,819 PSA.
1-2 Special also had another title on the chart at #2: “Silent Friend.” Now in its fourth week in theaters. the Ildikó Enyedi ode to a tree—starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leá Seydoux—added $30. 957 this weekend. Its cumulative total reached $307,142, with the chart listing a screen count of 57 and an avg/location figure of $543.
Other specialized openings this week included Kino Lorber’s “The Currents” and Film Movement’s “Renoir,” each opening on a single location.
The weekly chart is built around a specific set of criteria: it looks at independent and mini-major distributors with films that, at their widest release at any point, stay below 500 screens. It also excludes event cinema, re-releases, and major Bollywood or Chinese North American releases.
“Tuner” sits at the center of the week’s momentum. expanding from a four-screen opening to 452 screens while building a domestic cumulative of $1.87 thus far. “Time and Water. ” by contrast. shows how a specialized rollout can lean on per-location performance—opening on a single screen for $8. 048—while aiming for a broader lift with its June 5 expansion.
Here is Comscore’s full Top 10 Specialized Chart for the weekend of May 29 to May 31 (domestic results):
Top 10 Specialized Releases 5/29-5/31
“Tuner” – $1.726M
Distributor: Black Bear
Week: 2
Screen Count: 452
Avg/Location: $3,819
Cumulative: $1.875M
“Silent Friend” – $30,957
Distributor: 1-2 Special
Week: 4
Screen Count: 57
Avg/Location: $543
Cumulative: $307,142
“Steal this Story, Please!” – $25,554
Distributor: Xceptional Communications
Week: 8
Locations: 20
Weekend Gross: $25,554
Avg/Location: $1,278
Cumulative: $508,251
“Pitfall” – $19,629
Distributor: Cineverse
Week: 1
Locations: 53
Avg/Location: $19,629
Cumulative: $19,629
“Zombeid” – $16,596
Distributor: Geo Films
Week: 1
Locations: 45
Avg/Location: $16,596
Domestic Cumulative: $16,596
“Blue Heron” – $13,468
Distributor: Janus Films
Week: 7
Locations: 30
Avg/Location: $449
Cumulative: $542,720
“Forge” – $11,477
Distributor: Utopia
Week: 3
Locations: 16
Avg/Location: $717
Cumulative: $56,964
“Time and Water” – $8,048
Distributor: 1-2 Special
Week: 1
Locations: 1
Avg/Location: $8,048
Domestic Cumulative: $8,048
“The Currents” – $8,020
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Week: 1
Locations: 1
Avg/Location: $8,020
Cumulative: $10,163
“Renoir” – $6,252
Distributor: Film Movement
Week: 1
Locations: 1
Avg/Location: $6,252
Cumulative: $19,680
Time and Water Sara Dosa Fire of Love 1-2 Special specialized box office Comscore Rentrak Black Bear Tuner Silent Friend Tony Leung Chiu-wai Leá Seydoux IndieWire chart
One screen? That seems fake like a typo. How can it be #8 if it was only in NY?
So it made 8k on one screen and they’re acting like it’s a hit… I guess niche charts are math, not movies. Still cool that it’s getting attention though.
I think this means it’s only allowed to play in that one theatre or something. Like if it does well, they’ll let it expand? Or maybe they just forgot to release it everywhere. Either way I don’t trust “per-screen average” lol.
Fire of Love opened on three screens and then it got big, so Time and Water is probably gonna be the same thing. Glacier love letter sounds like an artsy documentary I won’t watch but I mean it’s doing numbers. Black Bear’s Tuner at #1 on the specialized chart too… I don’t know what qualifies as specialized anymore.