Among the better surprises in a summer of endless disappointments was Nerve, the YA teen thriller from Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost (Catfish, Paranormal Activity 3 & 4). It was light, engaging, intimate but also alive and filled with personality in ways most movies weren’t this season. While its ending took it a few steps too far, it kept itself endearing and appealing even through its weakest moments, and it produced one of the most consistently entertaining films of the last few months.
That it didn’t quite find its audience during its theatrical run was disappointing, but most of the year’s good films didn’t. But Nerve, thankfully, will get another chance. It’s returning to 600 theaters nationwide, and tickets are only $5 this time around.
Variety reports on the film’s theatrical return, and it marks a first for Lionsgate, the film’s distributor, in that it’ll use the mobile movie ticketing platform Atom Tickets. The ticketing app is one Lionsgate joined Disney and Fox in creating, and they hope it’ll change the way people — especially youngsters — get their movie tickets (believing they get movie tickets at all these days, of course).
“This innovative promotion is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the opportunities that Atom Tickets creates for our exhibition partners and our moviegoers,” said Michael Burns, Lionsgate’s Vice Chairman, to the trade. “Nerve is the ideal film on which to begin tapping the full potential of the Atom platform.”
To be clear, Nerve did well enough during its initial run, earning $37 million respectably on a budget of $20 million. But Lionsgate wants to give it more love (and they should), and now it’s coming back in select venues. And this is a pretty appropriate platform for the technology-enthused film, one that might not have a long shelf life but will certainly be liked by those who give it a decent chance. If you’re not one of those people already, and you’re looking for a good movie to see in theaters this holiday weekend, you should make a point to see Nerve. It’s certainly worth the five bucks, and it might even, ahem, strike a nerve.
