Mubi CEO Praises $20 Million Opening of ‘Primetime’

At the Zurich Summit, Efe Cakarel praised the film’s strong youth turnout and called bold, original storytelling the future of cinema.

Lance Oppenheim’s thriller Primetime pulled in $20 million over its opening weekend, a figure that surprised even the most seasoned distributors. The news broke at the Zurich Summit, where Mubi’s chief executive, Efe Cakarel, took the stage to dissect the numbers.

Cakarel, speaking to a packed audience of investors and filmmakers, said the film’s performance was “incredible.” He highlighted a demographic twist that caught his eye – the bulk of ticket buyers were under‑30, a group traditionally seen as streaming‑first. “You look at the demographic of who’s watching this story, which you would think appeals to an older audience, and it’s incredibly healthy – the younger audiences who are watching,” he told the crowd.

The Mubi boss didn’t stop at applause. He used the moment to push a broader agenda: original, bold storytelling must become the norm, not the exception. “The experience of watching a film, watching original, bold storytelling is here to stay, and it’s gonna grow,” he declared. The message was clear – financiers need to chase risk, not just safe IP.

He also dropped a personal anecdote that underscored his point. His 14‑year‑old son, who travelled from Geneva, chose to skip a family dinner in favour of a post‑screening Q&A for Kane Parsons’ Backrooms. “That is profound,” Cakarel said, linking the anecdote to a larger trend of younger viewers seeking immersive cinema experiences over bite‑size content.

When asked about future collaborations, Cakarel name‑checked Oscar‑winner Edward Berger, the director of Conclave. He said meeting Berger reinforced his belief that Mubi must scale its financing muscle to back projects of that calibre. “It took us 15 years to get to a place where you could start imagining being able to finance a film by Paweł Pawlikowski,” he recalled, pointing to the company’s steady climb from a handful of staff to over 400 employees.

The CEO was candid about growth pains. He warned that rapid expansion can hide problems, noting 2025 as a slower year after two “phenomenal” years in 2023‑24. Yet his optimism remained unshaken. “The road to growth and success is never a straight line,” he said, adding that the goal is not endless scaling but the ability to greenlight ambitious cinema.

For the industry, the takeaway is simple: there’s a hungry, discerning audience for daring narratives, and they’re showing up in theatres. Whether Mubi can translate Primetime’s success into a steady pipeline of similar films remains to be seen, but the summit’s buzz suggests the platform is ready to bet big.

The next test will be the film’s performance in overseas markets and whether the buzz translates into sustained box‑office momentum. Keep an eye on the weekend reports – they’ll tell us if bold storytelling truly is the new box‑office driver.