Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
I’m a child of the 20th century, so the electric guitar, an instrument with a vast range of expressive potential, is the voice of my life. Whether it’s the simple, rhythmic lines of John Lee Hooker or the dense, almost formless drones of Sunn O))), the guitar is the thing. So It Might Get Loud, the documentary that explores the history of the electric guitar through interviews with and performances by Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge, is something I very much want to see. In August, Sony Pictures Classics will oblige. For now, there’s a trailer. Read More »
Sony Pictures Classics has released the official movie trailer for Woody Allen’s latest comedy Whatever Works. The film stars Larry David as an eccentric New Yorker who abandons his upper class life to lead a more bohemian existence. He meets a young girl from the south, played by Evan Rachel Wood, and her family and no two people seem to get along in the entanglements that follow.
I had a chance to see this film at ShoWest, and while it wasn’t as good as Vicky or Match Point, it was a thrill to see Allen’s cinematic return to New York City. David is great at playing the typical Allen neurotic cynical male protagonist, and Wood is perfect as the impressionable southern belle. I’m surprised that the trailer gives away the “punchline” of the movie, even out of context it seems a bit odd. Check out the trailer after the jump, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.
If you ask me, Sony Pictures Classics is probably the WORST indie distributor. They mis-advertised and buried the 2008 Sundance favorite The Wackness, and countless other films.
This year at Sundance, SPC picked up the rights to the Sam Rockwell old-school space sci-fi thriller Moon. The film is running on a lot of buzz, and of course, Sony has revealed that their June 12th “limited opening” will only consist of theaters in two cities: New York in Los Angeles. I’m sure the plan is to expand to more cities, but SPC is certainly no Fox Searchlight. They don’t know how to do a platform release without award buzz.
Moon is such a wonderful indie sci-fi film. I encourage anyone near New York and LA to see this film on June 12th. Hopefully people in other cities will get the chance to see this film on the big screen.
via: Io9
Is Independent Cinema Dead? Variety Editor Peter Bart Says So
Posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
The following quote is attributed to Variety’s Pam McClintock:
“The worst thing that ever happened to indie film was that the studios decided it was a good business.”
And while I agree with that statement, I’m not sure I agree that Independent Movies are on the “endangered species list” as Variety editor Peter Bart writes in his latest blog entry. Bart claims that studio expectations for their art house divisions were too high. “Their production budgets were too lofty and their marketing budgets too ambitious,” Bart writes, pointing towards the downward box office trend for specialty films in 2008. Here are the Variety numbers:
2006: $416 million
2007: $330 million
2008 (so far): $161 million
While I do agree that the specialty film market is on a down turn, I think it is unfair to point to 2008’s numbers as an accurate indication of such. For example, Juno was probably the biggest indie film of last year, earning $143 million, and it wasn’t released until December. And there was no indication that it would be such a huge hit. Heck, no one had even seen the film until Telluride/Toronto. So I think it is far to early to count 2008 out.
That said, I think the quality of films being produced is not the real problem, but instead the marketing pushes behind them. For my money, The Wackness and American Teen were on level with the mini-major indies of years past, but both films were poorly represented to the mainstream public. One only has to look at the posters for each of the films mentioned to understand a problem exists. But this isn’t anything new. Picturehouse released King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters last year, and it barely went on to break a half-million dollars domestically. The film is one of the best reviewed movies of all time, and has huge appeal to the number one demographic in this country.
The problem is that the mini-majors don’t know how to sell a movie that can’t sell itself. Sony Pictures Classics doesn’t understand how to market a film, instead they prey heavily on possible award nominations for the needed push. And Fox Searchlight seems to be the only studio that knows how to market these type of films correctly. They have released eight “studio indies” in the past five years that have made over $32 million at the box office. But on the other hand, even Searchlight’s future line-up seems a bit weak. Choke is a low-budget R-rated comedy with the ability to reach the college-aged crowd, but it certainly doesn’t have the mainstream appeal of a Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. Don’t get me wrong, I love the movie, but there is only so far a film like Choke can go.
So what is the answer? Is independent film dead? And if so, who is to blame?
Discuss: What do you guys think?
When I first saw The Wackness in January at Sundance, I proclaimed that it was one of my favorite films of the year so far. It’s very easy to make such claims in the first couple weeks of a new year, especially when you’re in Park City. I’ve seen the film now four times, in three different states. We’re now almost half way through 2008, and I can tell you without a doubt, the film stands up.
The Wackness will find an audience, because frankly, it’s a good movie. Problem is, the film is hard to market. Almost every character in the film smokes, the lead character sells drugs, none of which can be shown in a green band movie trailer. To top it off, the film is a period film, set in the mid-90’s, enough to tempt any marketing department to use crazy 90’s colors and graphics, none of which is appealing to people today because, well, “it’s so 90’s.” But I think this new teaser trailer does a better job of explaining things. It’s really hard to take a step back. Having seen the films so many times now, it’s almost like your brain fills in the blanks.
The new teaser focuses on the relationship between Josh Peck and Olivia Thirlby’s characters. I’m still waiting for a two and a half minute theatrical trailer. When I interviewed director Jonathan Levine a couple weeks back, he told me they’re working on a kick ass red band trailer which should help sell the movie more for what it is, and not only the g-rated elements they’re allowed to show you. I hear Sony Pictures Classics is going to run a lot of advanced screenings, because word of mouth is really the only way to get the word out about this film. Anyway, watch the new teaser trailer below and tell me what you think in the comments.
Watch the trailer in High Definition on Apple.com. The Wackness hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles on July 3rd 2008.
Official Plot Synopsis: It’s the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana-but change is in the air. The newly-inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against “crimes” like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness. Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City, trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy, while crushing on his step daughter (Olivia Thirlby). Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen,and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet, and funny coming of age story.
Discuss: What do you think of the new trailer for The Wackness.
I had the chance to interview The Wackness writer/director Jonathan Levine and star Josh Peck over the weekend, after having seen the film for a fourth time. The Wackness is one of my favorite movies of the year so far, and if you read the site daily than you know I’ve been pushing the hell out of it. Jonathan thanked me for my support of the film, and Peck admitted to being a /Film reader, how cool is that? I said it in my review of the movie but Peck delivers a career making performance, and I really hope that’s the case.
So far I’ve been very critical of the way Sony Pictures Classics has been marketing the film. Truth is, this movie is a hard sell for any company. Every scene contains elements which aren’t allowed on screen during in green band movie trailers. This obviously makes it hard to cut a good trailer. Add that to the fact that SPC doesn’t know how to market movies and you have a recipe for disaster. Thankfully it sounds like they are going to be doing a lot of word of motuh screenings leading up to the release, which is probably the best way to get the word out about this film (especially considering most everyone I know who has seen the film so far has loved it).
Sony Pictures Classics has released six clips from the film on their film festival EPK. I think these scenes might give you a much better impression about what The Wackness is really about. Althought I don’t reccomend that you watch them all, as they are meant to be seen within the context of the film. The first three are probably better than the last three, so make your choice!
The Wackness will hit theaters on July 3rd 2008.
Previously, Slashfilm lashed into Sony Pictures Classics for releasing a full-length trailer for The Wackness, a fave upcoming flick of the site, that shamefully sold the film as just another navel-ring piece of garbage starring an Olsen twin. Knowing full well who was in the movie, I still anticipated a cornrowed Bijou Phillips popping up and shaking her ass in the trailer at any second. Today, Cinematical received the new one-sheet for the little indie that should send director Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) trail blazing a la Jason Reitman, and thankfully it’s not a complete disaster.
One of the marketing aspects that SPC needs to stress and failed to with the trailer is the film’s 1994 time period. The poster clearly does a better job of this with the taglines, the retro color scheme and the appropriately corny off-kilter cityscape. I’m not sure the cassette title design could be worked in here, but I hope it’s played up more in the weeks up to come. While this one-sheet could always benefit from a “Don’t believe the trailer, this movie’s really great!” Slashfilm pull quote, at least Mary-Kate isn’t hovering over skyscrapers frozen in a dance routine like a malnourished Mick Jagger. The Wackness opens July 3rd. Click the poster above to enlarge.
The Wackness Teaser Trailer #2 OR Sony Pictures Classics Proves Once Again They Don’t Know How To Market a Good Movie
Posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
It must be really hard to cut a good movie trailer, especially for a bad movie. But it always amazes me when great films sometimes have such horrible movie trailers. I’ve now seen Jonathan Levine ’s The Wackness three times. And since January the film has held strong on the list of my favorite films of 2008. When Sony Pictures Classics purchased the film at Sundance, a lot of the people that loved this film were bummed out. Bloggers were outraged. You see, Sony Pictures Classics is where good movies go to die. The only way they can market a movie is if it wins an award (ie they let the award do the heavy lifting). And the guys at SPC promised that they knew how to handle this film, and two trailers later, I really really really don’t want to say I told you so, but…
The second teaser trailer is a mishmash of good moments from the film, which play well to someone who has seen the movie, but to the unknowing onlooker, it comes off as an urban “Step Up” or Finding Forester. Sure you have some good interaction between Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck, and the moment with Peck playing classic Nintendo, but I challenge anyone who hasn’t heard of this movie to explain to me what this movie is about. Because after seeing this trailer, you really have no idea.
You can watch the trailer below and see for yourself, but I highly recommend you stay away from any of the marketing from this film. I say this because if I had seen either of these teaser trailers, I probably wouldn’t be interested in the slightest. And it’s too bad, because this film is great. It won the audience award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. People love this film. I love this film. Even critics love this film. But none of that is enough to sell this film to you the audience. I understand that. You want to be sold by the trailer. You probably won’t be sold by this one. Maybe the next one will be better. We can only hope.
I’ve now seen Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness three times - twice at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Dramatic Audience Award (which explains why I screened the film a second time during award day), and again at a secret screening during the South By South West Film Festival in Austin Texas. You may have noticed me calling American Teen my favorite film of 2008 (so far), but The Wackness holds a spot in the top five along side Assassination of a High School President. You probably want to know what this movie is about right? Here is the official plot synopsis:
“Set in New York in the sweltering summer of 1994, THE WACKNESS tells the story of a troubled teenage drug dealer, who trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist.. Things get more complicated when the kid falls for one of his classmates, who just happens to be the doctor’s daughter. Set against the backdrop of the greatest year in hip hop history, THE WACKNESS is a coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, music–and what it takes to be a man.”
Sony Pictures Classics has finally released a teaser trailer. And while I love the graffiti re-do of the Sony logo, the music, and the way everything was cut together, I’m just not sure the moments used accurately give you any real indication what this film is like. For example, I don’t think you get any idea what kind of relationship Josh Peck’s character and Ben Kingsly’s character have. And their relationship really is the core of this film. Watch the trailer and tell me what you think in the comments below.
You can watch the new trailer in High Definition on MTV.com. Sony Pictures Classics plans to release the film in New York and Los Angeles on July 3rd 2008.
Cinematical has premiered two new images from Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness, one of our favorite films os 2008 so far. Which reminded me that we’ve never posted the production photos which were released at the Sundance Film Festival. You can check out those photos after the jump. The Wackness won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival, and was quickly snapped up by Sony Pictures Classics who plan to release the film in New York and Los Angeles on July 3rd (I’ve seen the tagline “The 4th of July is gonna be WACK”, which just goes to show you how lame SPC’s marketing department is).
Here is the official plot synopsis:
“Set in New York in the sweltering summer of 1994, THE WACKNESS tells the story of a troubled teenage drug dealer, who trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist.. Things get more complicated when the kid falls for one of his classmates, who just happens to be the doctor’s daughter. Set against the backdrop of the greatest year in hip hop history, THE WACKNESS is a coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, music–and what it takes to be a man.”
The film stars a Harvey Keitel-looking Ben Kingsly, Josh Peck in a career making performance, the beautiful Olivia Thirlby, a hippy-fied Mary-Kate Olsen, Famke Janssen and Method Man.
Olivia Thirlby is such a huge part of this film, so why are they holding back on her in the marketing materials? If I were Sony Pictures Classics, and I had a movie that featured one of the stars of Juno, one of the biggest independent films of all time, I’d be playing that up just a little. I mean, releasing a photo that shows her face might be a start. I don’t understand why they are playing up the Ben Kingsly/Mary-Kate Olsen kiss when it has little to do with the overall story.
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).
Sony Pictures Classics to Buy/Bury The Wackness?!
Posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Please someone tell me this isn’t true. THR is reporting that Sony Pictures Classics has closed a deal for Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness. The deal is said to be in the low seven figures.
The Wackness is one of my favorite films of the festival. The buzz around Park City on shuttles and in lines, is that this is THE film of Sundance 2008. I’ve found it very strange that no studio deal has yet been announced. And while I’m very happy to finally hear that The Wackness has a deal possibly in sight, I’m torn over the mention of the potential buyer. Why? Well because Sony Pictures Classics sucks. Don’t get me wrong, they have some great films in their catalog. But it seems to me that many of these films are buried at the box office with lackluster promotion. If only every mini-major could be more like Fox Searchlight!
Let’s take a look at some of the recent Sony Pictures Classics releases, and how well they faired at the box office:
Youth Without Youth - $196,000: I don’t care how experimental or how badly reviewed this film was, Sony could have slapped ads up touting “Francis Ford Coppola’s First Film in Ten Years” or “From the Director of The Godfather”.
Persepolis - $913,000: Nominated for an academy award, but dumped in to art houses with little to no press and advertising.
My Kid Could Paint That - $229,000: One of the best documentaries of 2007 with huge free marketing appeal (in news shows, newspapers…etc)
Junebug - $2,680,000: Amy Adam’s oscar nominated break-out performance dumped.
Layer Cake - $2,340,000: A lighting quick gangster film with major cult appeal starring announced Bond replacement Daniel Craig.
In fact, the nine films which were released theatrically last year [From January 1st 2007 to December 31st 2007] by Sony Pictures Classics, made a grand total of $6.5 million in the 2007 calendar year. That’s an average of $725,000 per picture. The fact that their highest box office take was The Jane Austen Book Club, which took in $3.5 million, yet cost over $6 million to produce. Compare this to Fox Searchlight, which made almost twice that of the total SPC with The Darjeeling Limited alone, which never played on more than 700 screens. Actually, only one of the eight films that Searchlight released in 2007, made less than the combined sum of Sony Pictures Classic’s 2007 catalog.
I understand that the sex and drugs themes inherent within The Wackness might pose a challenge to market, which explains why The Wackness probably settled with Sony Pictures Classics. But Levine would have had a better chance by selling the film to Fox Searchlight for $1 and taking a back-end deal. At least then maybe the film would have a chance.
I hope that Sony pictures Classics proves me wrong. I hope they market the hell out of this film. 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. One thing is for sure, as much as I dislike Sony Pictures Classics, I will be giving this film an abundance of free marketing.
More from our Friends:
Neil at FSR: “This is probably one of the worst things that could have happened for the film.” “They are a studio that wouldn’t know what to do with a great film even if it came with a set of instructions.”
Alex from FS.net: “Sony Pictures Classics really needs to learn from Fox Searchlight if they’re going to market The Wackness and Baghead correctly, and I wish them the best of luck, because both of these need to be huge hits”
Edward Douglas of CS.net: “It’s a fun movie and could find a big audience, though it’s not the kind of movie Sony Classics usually releases, though it would be a huge turnaround for the company if they’re able to learn something from the Fox Searchlight marketing model”
Josh Tyler from CinemaBlend: “With the right marketing campaign and the right people promoting it, The Wackness could have easily opened in 1000 theaters and made millions. With Sony Pictures Classics behind it, we’ll be lucky if it ever plays anywhere outside of New York or LA, and forget about Oscar consideration.”
Anne Thompson of Variety: “Some folks seem to have an issue with SPC distributing Wackness.”
Peter Martin of Cinematical: “The complaint is that Sony Classics has had a poor track record over the past couple of years and someone like Fox Searchlight would do a better job with marketing a film that critics think needs to be seen.”
