Film Radar

I am not one to make film performance predictions because it is the best way to look like a fool.  However, one film in particular is starting to show a lot of unexpected traction this summer: [500] Days of Summer directed by Mark Webb, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

At an event last evening I heard Jill Gwen, the CFO of Fox Searchlight (releasing Summer), talk about the Searchlight distribution strategy.  It’s called a “roll-out” or “platform” release, and goes like this: the film opens in LA and New York in only four theaters.  Average revenue per theater determines what happens next.  The buzz is good, but they keep it in just four theaters to let the buzz build.  Two weeks later the release goes wider– maybe 20 theaters in 5 key cities– and so on.  The technique relies upon good word-of-mouth, which relies upon a good film.  It also requires comparatively little P$A (film prints & advertising costs).  It’s really a brilliant distribution model: Waking Ned Devine, Supertroopers, Thank You for Smoking, Sideways, Juno and Slumdog Millionaire.  Though a lot more of these types of films sink than swim (8 in 10), there is something very honest about the success of the best ones.  If I have a man-crush on (writer/director) Jason Reitman and a celebrity crush on Emma Thompson, I have an industry crush on Fox Searchlight.