At Sundance, a bunch of the movie journalists covering the festival and myself were extremely shocked and disappointed to learn that one of our favorite films of the festival, Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness, had been sold to Sony Pictures Classics. We really love this film and want to see it succeed, but Sony Pictures Classics is known as the place where “Good Movies Go to Die”.
The only time Sony Pictures Classics is able to make money off a film is when the award buzz handles the publicity for them. They just aren’t good at marketing films, plain and simple. I could impress on you the fact that in 2007, Sony Pictures Classics made only $39 million off 23 films, compared to other mini major specialty divisions like Picturehouse which made $60 million off 9 films, and Fox Searchlight made $216 off only 6 films. SPC couldn’t even make $1 off Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in ten years (good film or bad, that line should have sold itself). Only one of the 24 releases Sony Pictures Classics had in 2007 made over $10 million, and that’s likely only because that film won an Oscar (ie the free award buzz translating into ticket sales).
In response to our criticism, Co-President of Sony Pictures Classics Tom Bernard told indieWire, “We’re Not Looking For Home Runs”. Which is stupid, because they have a potential indie grand slam on their hands. The Wackness has huge generational cult classic potential on the level of Zack Braff’s Garden State, which took in $26.8 million in the U.S. The Wackness is not the type of film that Sony Pictures Classics is use to releasing.
So what date did Sony Pictures Classics choose for The Wackness? According to Olivia Thirlby, who talked to our friends at Collider, the film will be released in the middle of the summer movie season on July 3rd 2008. Note: we believe that Olivia probably meant to say July 2nd 2008, as the 3rd is a Thursday, and all the other films either hit theaters on Wednesday the 2nd or Friday the 4th. Either way, the point is - it’s not a good date to release an indie film.
Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E and Universal’s comic book adaptation Wanted hit theaters less than a week earlier. The Wacknness will go head to head with Sony’s Superhero comedy Hancock starring the unstoppable box office drawing power of Will Smith, followed up the next week by Hellboy II, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, and the Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave. The rest of July features a bevy of huge releases including The Dark Knight, Mamma Mia!, X-Files 2, Step Brothers, and The Mummy 3 on August 1st. Not to mention Fox Searchlight’s 2008 big bet - Clark Gregg’s adaptation of Chuck Palahnuik’s Choke, which also opens within the month.
Releasing an indie like this in the dead center of Summer will not allow for the film to build and expand. Fox Searchlight, a company which knows how to handle these type of platform releases, launched Little Miss Sunshine in late Summer (nearly a month later), a time when all the big summer movies had already had a chance to cool down. The Wackness is the type of film which needs to catch the eye of the College crowds, and might have been better off with a date like this which would have allowed for an expansion in early fall. But the last Friday of July/first Friday of August is Fox Searchlight’s magic date. They’ve had some incredible hits on that magic date. And unforutunately for Sony, they basically own the date (this year’s release is Choke).
February 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Some interesting thoughts Peter, though I’d argue that the numbers were warped a little by the individual movies (your darling Juno taking in the vast bulk of the Searchlight numbers plus a built in audience sequel… combined with the fact that no one was going to see Youth Without Youth…. the premise combined with fairly negative buzz killed that one, and while it was his first film in 10 years, I think he’d need to do something much much more mainstream and appealing to bank off his name… his movies in the 90s weren’t very well received either).
Little Miss Sunshine still came out right up against a lot of big movies that failed to meet expectations like Miami Vice, Lady In the Water, Monster House, etc. plus Talladega Nights. Do you think Juno would have done nearly as well if it had been released in late July?
It’s really frustrating and sad that the focus on awards have really forced “quality” movies to be released pretty much solely in the final quarter of the year and that just makes it more irritating that summer blockbusters like the stuff from that hack Michael Bay (kidding) end up really dictating the rules of the movie business across the board.
February 28th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Anonymous: the 2007 numbers I provided only include the revenue made during the 2007 calenday year. Even without Juno’s $26 million, Searchlight made $105 million with 14 films in 2007, compared to Sony which made $39 million with 23 films.
Do I think Juno would have done as well if released in July? Probably not. 2007 was the summer of threequels and it probably wouldn’t have had much of a chance. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have done well, maybe 20-30 mill, but it would not be the juggernaut it is today. But then again, Fox Searchlight knows how to market a movie, Sony Pictures Classics does not.
Look at the films that Sony Pictures Classics released in 2007 and you’ll see a lot of good films with a lot of wasted potential. My Kid Could Paint That was one of the best documentaries of the year, and could have been marketed as a quasi-mainstream documentary. SPC made only $213,000. I’m possitive if Picturehouse or Searchlight released the same film, they would have at least made a few million dollars.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I didn’t realize that about Juno, I figured
But also I think you have to look at the individual movies that Fox Searchlight released. Virtually all of them had well known actors and most had budgets twice the size of Juno in the 10 - 20 million dollar range (things like Waitress, The Darjeeling Limited, The Savages, The Namesake, I Think I Love My Wife, The Hills Have Eyes II).
But Sony Pictures Classics put out movies like Angel-A, Paprika, Offside, etc. that each had a budget of under a million dollars, some of them even under $250k.
Obviously, with a campaign like Juno, Fox Searchlight was successful with their returns, but unfortunately I think you have to look at this as being a case of being like (kidding again) Michael Bay where you have to spend money to make money. Waitress had more than Transformers like budget and star power when compared to Offside Literally like 200 times the budget). It’s just a totally different realm of independent filmmaking. When you are talking about that type of difference with budget and cast, I’m not sure it can really be attributed to the production company and their campaign.
And how many documentaries can really have theatrical success a year and make a few million dollars? 2007 already had Sicko and No End In Sight.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Why do you think Sony Pictures Classics does such a bad job marketing their films? I’m worried about the Wackness not getting the business and the recognition it deserves.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
The biggest problem I have with Sony Picture Classics is they never actually seem to distribute their films! Almost anything they release that I want to see never shows up in my city. I’m always forced to wait for the DVD! Thanks Sony.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
well at least it will stay obscure and won’t pull a Juno and become extremly trendy.