Monday, June 1, 2026

Weekend Box Office Winners: A Sex Worker, a Snail, and the Pope Are Most Popular Stars

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The weekend box office has some unusual stars: a sex worker, a snail. And the pope.

The sex worker is Anora, star of the movie of that title. “Anora,” directed by Sean Baker, is shaping up as a big indie hit for small Neon movie studio.

“Anora” made $25K per screen on 34 venues this weekend. That’s huge, as it hasn’t really been released yet even mini-wide. “Anora” is headed for a lot of awards action this winter.

The snail is from IFC’s “Memoirs of a Snail.” IFC made $69,000 on just five screens or $13,800 per location.

The pope is the subject of Edward Berger’s sensational thriller, “Conclave.” Ralph Fiennes has to round up the cardinals at the Vatican to choose a new pope, and it’s not easy. Isabella Rossellini and Stanley Tucci help him. The awards bound film made $6.5 million for its first weekend. Word of mouth should be excellent. “Conclave” gets my highest recommendation.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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