Controversy doesn't always sell, and Newmarket Films found this out the hard way over the weekend with its dismal receipts from Death of a President. The faux doc grossed only $282,000 from the 143 theaters it played at in the U.S. and Canada, and its per-screen average was only $1,970. Compare that with the much better Shut Up & Sing, which also opened over the weekend with appeal to the Bush-hating crowd; it played in only four theaters for a per-screen average of $12,525. Plus, if we look at NYC's box office, which is a better gauge for small films like DoaP and SU&S, the latter made $21,159 (in two theaters), while the former made less than half that, at $9,043 (in three theaters).
Considering the $1 million that Newmarket reportedly paid for the film, the take is very disappointing. Still, there is a good chance that even moviegoers turned off from the subject matter will be more curious in the privacy of their own homes, and the distributor should make its money back through DVD and TV sales. But the numbers should show that such awareness does not always mean anticipation. The same was true last summer with the opening gross for Snakes on a Plane(coincidentally, DoaP rhymes with SoaP).
Netscape's Karina Longworth sat down with Death of a President director Gabriel Range, and has intertwined the interview with her own thoughts and criticisms of the faux documentary and the controversial buzz surrounding it. The most important point addressed in the video is probably the fact that the film is actually the opposite of anti-Bush. Karina even goes so far as to say it is, "definitely sympathetic," in its treatment of the president and, "it manages to truly humanize him," turning him into a "misunderstood hero."
(The following review ran during Cinematical's coverage of The Toronto International Film Festival; with Death of a President bowing today in limited release, we're glad to share it with you again.)
Occasionally, on the festival circuit, there's a movie that garners significant press before it even opens, and mainstream press at that.The controversy could be political, artistic or any one of a number of things. This year at Toronto, the as-yet-unseen-but-buzzed-about buzz flick was Death of a President-- a British mockumentary promising a look at a hypothetical 2007 assassination of George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States. Coyly listed in the program guides as D.O.A.P., the film's mere existence and outline caused a controversy, and incited strong feelings from both the Right-wing blogosphere and Kevin Costner (raising the question of which of those is actually less relevant). Political filmmaking about what-ifs is nothing new, nor are mock-docs about politically charged realities. C.S.A: The Confederate States of and It Happened Here both come to mind, as well as much of the work of Peter Watkins. Death of a President, it seemed, might be the newest entry into the field. Or public outrage over its essential plot might make the film disappear, a casualty of a just-declared War on Premises. ...
Movie marketing's a bit of a chess game for a lower-budget indie -- you want to always make tactical choices between advertising (which you pay for) and publicity (which you don't). For a great demonstration of this phenomenon, check out this press release from Newmarket films who picked up shock mock doc Death of a President at Toronto about how they are shocked, shocked that NPR and CNN won't run ads for the film.
Of course, this is the best of both worlds, as the Movie City News point out in their pithy headline -- now Newmarket doesn't have to pay money it probably doesn't have to run ads it can't afford ... and they'll benefit from some nice, juicy controversy. I think my favorite weasel-words in the press release come courtesy of Newmarket co-founder Chris Ball: "As everyone who has actually seen the movie agrees, Death of a President is the opposite of a call for violence – it's a powerfully cautionary tale about the pernicious effects of violence. ..." Take this the right way, Mr. Ball, but I don't think that a cautionary subtext about the pernicious effects of violence is what people go see DOAP for, anymore than they're watching porn for the safe sex message when the condoms come out. And also, let's not forget there's a fine distinction between censorship (which, to me, has always meant the government actively banning something) and the legitimate decision of a business to not accept an advertisement. Are NPR and CNN within their rights, in your eyes ... and will you go see Death of a President when it opens?
(Click here for Cinematical's Toronto Film Festival review of Death of a President.)
Two more films that premiered in Toronto this week have acquired U.S. distribution: ...So Goes the Nation and, perhaps surprisingly, Death of a President. IFC bought the North American distribution rights to ...So Goes the Nation, a documentary about the American electoral process with a focus on Ohio during the 2004 Presidential campaign. IFC hopes to release the film before U.S. midterm elections this fall through its First Take arm, which simultaneously releases movies in theaters and on cable-on-demand channels.
Newmarket took a chance and grabbed the U.S. distribution rights to Death of a President (aka DOAP), one of the more controversial films screening at TIFF this year. The mock-documentary narrative portrays a future in which President George W. Bush is assassinated, and manipulates live-action footage to make the fictional events look plausible. It seemed highly doubtful that any U.S. distributor would be interested in the film, which was produced by Channel 4 in the UK. Newmarket is probably used to controversy, having distributed The Passion of the Christ. I'll be interested to see what kind of release the film will have, and how amenable theaters will be about showing the film.
Yet another 2006 Sundance success story has scored US distribution. This time, it's God Grew Tired of Us, the debut of director Christopher Dillon Quinn, which won both an audience award and the jury prize for best documentary at the festival, and has been picked up by Newmarket. The movie, which tells the story of three Sudanese refugees adjusting to their new lives in the US, has been well-reviewed at festival screenings -- though it's also sometimes criticized for treading the same path as 2003's impressive doc, The Lost Boys of Sudan, a film from which it gets its subtitle -- but outside of festivals it hasn't really been seen. Thanks to Newmarket, though, that's going to change: The distributor plans to have the film in American theaters this fall.
Okay, now I'm convinced that many of the critics whose reviews count over at Rotten Tomatoes are secretly Pod People. That's the only way I can think of to explain how The Chumscrubber has a 32% rating over there, while Broken Flowers has an 87%. I saw both of these movies, and I'll tell you right now, one of them? Not nearly as great as its been touted to be. And the other? Much, much better than a lot of critics are giving it credit for.
The Chumscrubber is not your typical teen film. It tackles complex social issues without being condescending; it somehow manages to walk the line between drama and dark satiric comedy without being trite, cutesy, or quirky for the sake of quirkiness (an annoying trend which I'm seeing more and more with indie films lately).
This was a fabulously layered movie about the isolating loneliness of a self-medicated society, a world where everyone walks around in a solipsitic bubble, lightly bumping into each other rather than really interacting. On the surface, The Chumscrubber might appear to be just your average indie satire of suburban society, but there is much more to this movie than that.
The big Bob Berney-led HBO/New Line venture has found itself a name, and that name is Picturehouse. A statement issued today, uh, stated: "The
goal for Picturehouse is to be the theatrical distribution company of
choice for a wide-ranging community of independent filmmakers, and to
deliver a consistently high-quality slate of pictures to audiences." Picturehouse, which plans to relaese 8-10 films a year, is already compiling a compelling slate, including Gus Van
Sant's Last Days, the Diane Arbus biopic Fur, the "real-life School of Rock" doc Rock School, The Chumscrubber, Mary Harron's Gretchen Mol-starring Bettie Page biopic, Tribeca/SXSW also-ran "crowd-pleaser" The Thing About My Folks, and Kenneth Branagh's latest experiment in Shakespearean revival, As You Like It.
As we previously reported, HBO Films and New Line Cinema acquired Newmarket Films in an effort to bring smaller titles to the big screen. One of the first films to get the full HBO treatment will be Gus Van Sant's Last Days, which dramatizes the descent and eventual suicide of KurtCobain. Will it peeve HBO subscribers that their "original content" is no longer "original?" Probably.
HaydenChristensen loves the costume. In an interview with AP, Christensen talks about the empowering, near-religious experience of wearing The Mask. "I almost got this sort of beastly sense when I was in it." But will he take it off?
Stony Brook awards an honorary degree to Superman aka ChristopherReeve, who died in 2004. Reeve will now be a post-humous Doctor of "humane letters." No word on if that position is tenured.
That "nice little movie" Mike Nichols made back in 1967? TheGraduatescreened last Friday at the Motion Picture Academy Theatre. Despite the well-worn soundtrack and that "short, plain-looking actor" in the role of Benjamin Braddock, everyone "reacted warmly."
I figured if I was already depressed from watching the latest Presidential press conference, I might as well make a night of it. The Woodsman arrived on the DVD shelves earlier this month, and I admit, as an entertainment writer I should be a little more on top of these things. But honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to see a film about a child molester re-integrating into society.
Turns out I didn't have much to be afraid of—and not just because of
content.
New Line Cinema and HBO Films are about to strike a deal to acquire Newmarket Films, which they plan to absorb into indie division Fine Line. Newmarket president Bob Berney is expected to stay on board to lead the combined entity, which has yet to be renamed. The future of Fine Line's current staff is, at this point, unclear. Berney has had phenomenal success (at Newmarket, and first at IFC Films) distributing difficult-to-market pictures - My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Monster, The Passion of the Christ - that no one else knew what to do with. Fine Line, meanwhile, has been making a lot of critically acclaimed films of late - The Sea Inside, Vera Drake - but these pics have struggled at the box office. One imagines that Berney's presence is, thus, the key to the sale. More on this story as it develops.
A report by The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith has concluded that Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is in part responsible for a huge surge in anti-Semitic crimes in Canada. B'nai Brith found evidence of 32 such crimes in 2004, nine of which occured in February, the month Passion opened. This is up from a grand total of nine incidents throughout the entire previous year. Vice President of the League Frank Dimant released a statement highlighting the causal relationship between the film and various attacks, relating incidents such as one in which the perpetrator called a Jewish organization to say, "We don't need Mel Gibson's film to hate you!" Reuters has the full story.
Controversy doesn't always sell, and Newmarket Films found this out the hard way over the weekend with its dismal receipts from Death of a President. The faux doc grossed only $282,000 from the 143 theaters it played at in the U.S. and Canada, and its per-screen average was only $1,970. Compare that with the much better Shut Up & Sing, which also opened over the weekend with appeal to the Bush-hating crowd; it played in only four theaters for a per-screen average of $12,525. Plus, if we look at NYC's box office, which is a better gauge for small films like DoaP and SU&S, the latter made $21,159 (in two theaters), while the former made less than half that, at $9,043 (in three theaters). 
Movie marketing's a bit of a chess game for a lower-budget indie -- you want to always make tactical choices between advertising (which you pay for) and publicity (which you don't). For a great demonstration of this phenomenon, 
Two more films that premiered in Toronto this week have acquired U.S. distribution: 
Yet another 2006 Sundance success story has scored US distribution. This time, it's 
The big 
As we 
I figured if I was already depressed from watching the latest Presidential press conference, I might as well make a night of it. The Woodsman arrived on the DVD shelves earlier this month, and I admit, as an entertainment writer I should be a little more on top of these things. But honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to see a film about a child molester re-integrating into society.
New Line Cinema and HBO Films are about to strike a deal to acquire Newmarket Films, which they plan to absorb into indie division Fine Line. Newmarket president Bob Berney is expected to stay on board to lead the combined entity, which has yet to be renamed. The future of Fine Line's current staff is, at this point, unclear. Berney has had phenomenal success (at Newmarket, and first at IFC Films) distributing difficult-to-market pictures - My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Monster, The Passion of the Christ - that no one else knew what to do with. Fine Line, meanwhile, has been making a lot of critically acclaimed films of late - The Sea Inside, Vera Drake - but these pics have struggled at the box office. One imagines that Berney's presence is, thus, the key to the sale. More on this story as it develops. 
A report by The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith has concluded that Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is in part responsible for a huge surge in anti-Semitic crimes in Canada. B'nai Brith found evidence of 32 such crimes in 2004, nine of which occured in February, the month Passion opened. This is up from a grand total of nine incidents throughout the entire previous year. Vice President of the League Frank Dimant released a statement highlighting the causal relationship between the film and various attacks, relating incidents such as one in which the perpetrator called a Jewish organization to say, "We don't need Mel Gibson's film to hate you!" 
