Limited and Virtual Releases: A Trip to Theaters

May 21, 2020

The Trip to Greece

We are slowly looking towards returning to normal, and that includes opening more and more theaters in select parts of the nation. This week we have three limited releases with a variety of release strategies going from just virtual theaters for Lucky Grandma, to a mix of virtual and real-world theaters for The Painter and the Thief, to apparently everything all at once for The Trip to Greece. All three films are earning excellent reviews, so hopefully they can all find audiences, no matter where they are playing.

Lucky Grandma - Reviews
 Official Site
 Tsai Chin plays the titular Grandma, a recently-widowed Asian-American woman who is told by a fortune-teller than she will have great luck. She decides to head to a casino, but things don’t work out as she expects. Its reviews are almost unanimously positive, so I hope it finds an audience. However, the Virtual Theater concept hasn’t really taken off. If you are interested, you can go to the official site to see if it is playing in a Virtual Cinema near you.

The Painter and the Thief - Reviews
 Official Site
 A Norwegian film about a painter whose paintings are stolen. She learns who did it, but instead of going for revenge, she befriends the thief. The reviews are 100% positive, but the film is playing in limited release, virtual theaters, and other various places, so I’m not expecting much as far as box office numbers go. You can check out the official site for more information.

The Trip to Greece - Reviews
 Video on Demand
The fourth film in The Trip to... franchise. Like the others, this one is earning excellent reviews and normally I would expect it to earn $1 million in limited release. However, these are not normal times and it is coming out on the home market simultaneously, where I expect it to perform a lot better than in theaters. It is absolutely worth checking out. It could be a perfect escape for those self-isolating, as you can live vicariously through Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they travel around Greece and eat amazing food. Or it could be a painful reminder of what you’re not allowed to do right now.

Filed under: Limited Releases, The Trip to Greece, The Painter and the Thief, Lucky Grandma, The Trip, Rob Brydon, Tsai Chin, Steve Coogan