‘Rental Family’, Top Sundance Docs Debut On ‘Wicked’ Weekend With Few New Releases — Specialty Preview

Searchlight Pictures’ TIFF-premiering Rental Family and two Sundance prize-winning documentaries Cutting Through Rocks and Zodiac Killer Project are among new indie releases this weekend but most steered clear of Universal’s juggernaut Wicked: For Good. Sony Pictures Classics is launching an Academy run for Sylvain Chomet’s (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist) Cannes-premiering animated features A Magnificent Life (French title Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol), a biopic of the legendary French novelist, at the Village East in NY and Laemmle Royal in LA. Bleecker Street’s Rebuilding by Max Walker-Silverman starring Josh O’Connor starts a slow rollout to ten theaters from two in NYC. m. ET on 700+ screens. Rental Family By Japanese director Hikari, set in modern-day Tokyo, stars Brendan Fraser as an out-of-work American actor who struggles to find purpose until he landing an unusual gig working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. The family comedy is 87% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, see Deadline’s review. Wit Takehiro Hira (Shōgun), Akira Emoto, Mari Yamamoto and Shino Shinozaki. Cutting Through Rocks winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary, opens at NYC’s Film Forum and expands to select cities beginning Dec. 5. Iranian American filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni shine a light on Sara Shahverdi, the first elected councilwoman of her Iranian village, who aims to break long-held patriarchal traditions by training teenage girls to ride motorcycles, stopping child marriages and advocating for female land ownership. “Fierce and unapologetic, Sara pushes for bold reforms, fighting her most difficult battles on behalf of the village’s girls and women,” notes a synopsis. “But when her efforts spark backlash and accusations about her motives, Sara must confront not only her critics but also her own sense of identity.” Self-distributed by Gandom Films, the doc went on to win top awards at the 50+ international festivals it’s played post-Sundance, most recently Best Doc and Best Doc Directing at Woodstock. It hit DOC NYC’s Short List, and the IDFA doc fest in Amsterdam ahead of its New York debut. At 100% on Rotten Tomatoes off 21 reviews, it’s featured on Deadline’s fall virtual screening series For The Love Of Docs. Music Box Films opens Zodiac Killer Project at IFC Film Center with a national expansion to follow. The winner of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival: NEXT Innovator Award is directed and narrated by Charlie Shackleton, who deconstructs the true crime documentary with a deep dive into our obsession with serial killers and the stories we tell about them. The film started as another project, the account of a highway patrolman’s effort to identify and capture the infamous Zodiac Killer. Shackleton began collecting interviews and shot evocative B-roll footage of ghostly California freeways and parking lots where the killer may have once lurked. When that film fell apart, he was left with fragments of the unfinished film “and time to ruminate on shortcuts and signifiers of the ubiquitous genre.” New indie distributor Obscured Releasing is out with its first film, Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter, Zeberiah Newman’s documentary about the fitness and nutrition powerhouse who was a 1990s superstar only to later disappear. Jamie Lee Curtis serves as executive producer. Opened at Cinema Village in New York after a debut at Laemmle Noho in LA this week. “In the ’90s, pop culture icon Susan Powter burst onto the scene with her signature bleach-blonde buzz cut and bold message of health and wellness,” reads a synopsis. “After conquering infomercials, becoming a New York Times bestselling author, hosting her own talk show, and seeing her face on thousands of products, she dramatically walked away from Hollywood and into obscurity. Crippling lawsuits with her business partners left her bankrupt, and she has since lived as a total recluse below the poverty line in Las Vegas, where the filmmaker ultimately finds her.” MORE.
https://deadline.com/2025/11/new-indie-films-opening-rental-family-cutting-through-rocks-1236626173/