Padraic McKinley's feature debut The Weight entered wide release this weekend, arriving on 1,504 screens following its January premiere at Sundance, where it drew early comparisons to the crafted genre pictures of the 1970s and earned enough heat to bring Vertical Entertainment to the table in March.
The film centers on Samuel, played by Ethan Hawke, a man pried from his daughter and deposited in a brutal prison. Warden Clancy, played by Russell Crowe, makes him an offer: smuggle gold from a remote mine with a crew of prisoners, and walk free. Julia Jones co-stars. The setting is the Depression-era wilderness, and the film is largely concerned with what happens to people when the terrain stops being the main threat.
Critics have responded with rare unanimity. The Weight holds a 93% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a figure that places it among the year's most lauded wide releases and marks a debut feature landing with unusual authority.
According to early estimates from Deadline, the film earned $1.17 million on Friday from its 1,504 theaters, projecting an opening weekend around $2.3 million. That number is modest. What it suggests, though, is a film running on word of mouth and critical credibility in a season already crowded with louder options. McKinley, who signed with Range Media shortly after Sundance, made a film that seems in no hurry to announce itself.