Fathom Entertainment has helped Glitch Productions do what many thought was impossible, bringing a beloved web series to the silver screen. The Amazing Digital Circus is one of the biggest independent YouTube animations of all time, garnering tens of millions of views since its debut in 2023. Wasting little time in becoming an online behemoth, The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act’s arrival in theaters has shocked the industry with its opening night. In a wild twist, the theatrical debut has not only raked in some serious profits, but it has also overtaken a top horror movie at the box office.
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For its opening night on Thursday, June 4th, The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act will defeat Backrooms at the box office. Specifically, the YouTube series is bringing in around $6.8 million according to early reports, thanks to hitting over 2,200 theaters worldwide. This puts Pomni and friends’ long-awaited finale over the top for its big theatrical arrival, as Backrooms saw a total of $5.9 million for the same night. For its opening weekend, Backrooms was the number one movie at the box office, beating the likes of The Mandalorian and Grogu and Obsession for that weekend. At present, it appears as though The Amazing Digital Circus finale is looking to, reportedly, walk away with $9 to $10 million USD for its opening weekend, though these numbers could change.
The Amazing Digital Controversy
The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act might be hitting it big at the box office for its opening weekend, though it wasn’t exactly an easy road to hit the silver screen. Specifically, Glitch Productions’ big series finale was, at first, banned from the Middle East for unspecified reasons, while the movie itself was leaked online. On top of these detrimental factors, The Last Act also received backlash from the fan community. For those who don’t know, the final installment is still slated to arrive for free on YouTube, though fans will have to wait for two weeks to catch the series finale outside of theaters.
In response to the backlash, series co-creator Kevin Lerdwichagul released an official announcement that laid out why the decision was made to push the internet debut of the final episode back two weeks: “The reason we’re pushing for this at all is because this one event has the potential to change how the entire industry views indie animation. If this works, if we get a YouTube animated series into thousands of theatres globally, it opens the door not just for us, but for many creators, many projects, and the future of original, creator-led storytelling. To be blunt, getting to this point has been a massive uphill battle.” Considering how well The Last Act has done for its opening night, fans are still making their way to theaters to check out the final episode despite the controversies.
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