{"id":776996,"date":"2026-09-20T17:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T17:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776996\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T17:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T17:20:10","slug":"john-wilsons-history-of-concrete-is-ifc-centers-second-best-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776996\/","title":{"rendered":"John Wilson’s ‘History of Concrete’ is IFC Center’s Second Best Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe History of Concrete<\/a>,\u201d John Wilson<\/a>\u2018s feature directorial debut, cemented itself in the history of the IFC Center<\/a>, becoming the theater\u2019s second-highest-grossing debut. The Magnolia Pictures release opened to an impressive $90,000. That\u2019s behind only Bong Joon-Ho\u2019s \u201cParasite\u201d in terms of inaugural results<\/a>. \u201cParasite\u201d racked up $119,000 at the IFC Center, whereas the film that \u201cThe History of Concrete\u201d supplanted for second place, \u201cSleepwalk with Me,\u201d earned $68,801. <\/p>\n

Heading into the weekend, Wilson\u2019s film was already looking strong, having netted more than $60,000<\/a> in pre-sales to become the highest-grossing opening for a documentary in the theater\u2019s history. But it kept moving tickets, with screenings nearly sold out at the Greenwich Village theater. Wilson attended multiple showings to do Q&As. \u201cThe History of Concrete,\u201d which talks about the building material in Wilson\u2019s signature offbeat style, had its premiere at the IFC Center \u2014 the director posed in front of a cement truck that had been adorned with the film\u2019s title. They also created a 125-pound poster made of actual concrete that\u2019s stationed in the lobby of the theater.<\/p>\n

\"PARK<\/a> \"THE<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled that \u2018The History of Concrete\u2019 is IFC Center\u2019s second-biggest opener for any film ever, and the biggest documentary opener of all time \u2014 a testament to John Wilson\u2019s unique blend of humor, curiosity, and heart, and the creativity of the campaign by our good friends at Magnolia,\u201d said Harris Dew, IFC Center\u2019s senior vice president and general manager. \u201cYoung moviegoers turned out in force, leading to multiple sold-out screenings all weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magnolia also broke records earlier this summer at IFC Center with its buzzy release of John Early\u2019s \u201cMaddie\u2019s Secret,\u201d which opened to $58,242 and is IFC Center\u2019s seventh-biggest opener of all time.<\/p>\n

Since the film\u2019s world premiere at Sundance, Wilson has made the rounds, and will appear on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!,\u201d \u201cThe Daily Show,\u201d \u201cMorning Joe,\u201d and had features in everything from Architectural Digest and The New Yorker to Rolling Stone. Wilson has developed <\/a>a fan base, thanks to the comedy docuseries \u201cHow To with John Wilson,\u201d which had a three-season run on HBO. Magnolia acquired \u201cThe History of Concrete\u201d out of the Sundance Film Festival.<\/p>\n

Magnolia is also working with the NYC Department of Education to host a free screening for high schoolers in architecture, construction, and film schools at IFC Center later this month, which will kick off the theater offering discounted tickets to high school students for the duration of the film\u2019s run. The film expands to L.A. and additional cities next weekend, with more cities to follow Oct. 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe History of Concrete,\u201d John Wilson\u2018s feature directorial debut, cemented itself in the history of the IFC Center,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7214,96,256129,146911,2839,256130,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-776996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-box-office","tag-entertainment","tag-ifc-center","tag-john-wilson","tag-movies","tag-the-history-of-concrete","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}