Slumdog Millionaire
The Golden Globe that almost wasn't: Slumdog Millionaire
I'm not one for the award shows really, but, every once in a while do I get behind a film and really root for it. Like everyone else on the planet, one of my favorite films of the year is Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire - which took home the Best Picture (Drama) and Best Director Golden Globes I first got exposed to the film by working a press day with Danny himself at Austin Film Festival. You better believe it was a great day. I'd always thought that Danny was one of the best working today (Yes, before it was cool!) and just being around him and hearing him talk about movies made me feel like a better filmmaker just by being nearby.
Right now it's a tough market for smaller films - so tough that Slumdog nearly didn't get a release.
Warner Independent Pictures picked the film up for five million dollars initially, but then began to run the projections and they didn't like the commercial prospects. The film was put into the film festival circuit where Danny and this style of movie is popular, but essentially the film was dead in the water. However, the film absolutely killed at Toronto and Telluride film festivals causing Fox/Searchlight to enter into the scene and partnered with WIP to get the film out there.
It's far from the first time that this sort of thing has happened - most notably it happened to Little Miss Sunshine, too (although, it was the foreign sales that put LMS into doubt).
So what can we learn from this?
There's really two ways to look at it - The pessimist sees the turmoil and difficulty of getting a film released. That films that went on to make a gajillion dollars at the box office and DVD and racked up the awards by the bushel almost didn't make it to American audiences. The optimist sees films that resonate with audiences rising up and overcoming the current obstacles facing them (especially in Slumdog's case).
But really, these stories illustrate the frustrations in predicting audiences' appetites. Many times these prediction formulas are deadly accurate, but that doesn't mean they're really working. So often does a film seem to do everything right - cast big, be a really great movie, get great reviews but fizzles at the box office. Just as often a film comes from nowhere and "breaks out".
So what do we do with this? If you could figure out how to semi-accurately predict a box office gross you'll be richer than you can ever imagine.
I tend to take it as a point of encouragement.
Look at Slumdog - look at all the arguments going against it - Americans don't like subtitles. Americans don't like foreign films. Americans don't like movies with non-American leads. Americans don't care about India. Americans don't like movies that deal with depressing concepts (Indian poverty). American's don't care about "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" anymore. Etc., etc. etc. A lot of these arguments apply to the brilliant Let The Right One In, which is outperforming expectations as well, but not to the Slumdog degree.
While it doesn't mean that these arguments are dead - it does mean that a surprising segment of the moviegoing audience will shed their inhibitions every once in a while for a film that really reaches out and touches people. Will they go to every one of these real and genuine movies? No, not at all.
But every once in a while... they will come out, despite having all the baggage of unmarketability on top of it.
Isn't that really what a lot of all of this movie malarky is all about? Reaching out and connecting with people who wouldn't be reachable otherwise?
Just another way that Slumdog is inspiring. From a film that almost didn't get released (I think this effectively kills the "Film Festivals are irrelevant in a non-buying market" argument pretty well).
WIP picked up Slumdog Millionaire for $5 Million and nearly didn't release it. As of right now it has grossed $34 Million and won 4 Golden Globes.
Right now it's a tough market for smaller films - so tough that Slumdog nearly didn't get a release.
Warner Independent Pictures picked the film up for five million dollars initially, but then began to run the projections and they didn't like the commercial prospects. The film was put into the film festival circuit where Danny and this style of movie is popular, but essentially the film was dead in the water. However, the film absolutely killed at Toronto and Telluride film festivals causing Fox/Searchlight to enter into the scene and partnered with WIP to get the film out there.
It's far from the first time that this sort of thing has happened - most notably it happened to Little Miss Sunshine, too (although, it was the foreign sales that put LMS into doubt).
So what can we learn from this?
There's really two ways to look at it - The pessimist sees the turmoil and difficulty of getting a film released. That films that went on to make a gajillion dollars at the box office and DVD and racked up the awards by the bushel almost didn't make it to American audiences. The optimist sees films that resonate with audiences rising up and overcoming the current obstacles facing them (especially in Slumdog's case).
But really, these stories illustrate the frustrations in predicting audiences' appetites. Many times these prediction formulas are deadly accurate, but that doesn't mean they're really working. So often does a film seem to do everything right - cast big, be a really great movie, get great reviews but fizzles at the box office. Just as often a film comes from nowhere and "breaks out".
So what do we do with this? If you could figure out how to semi-accurately predict a box office gross you'll be richer than you can ever imagine.
I tend to take it as a point of encouragement.
Look at Slumdog - look at all the arguments going against it - Americans don't like subtitles. Americans don't like foreign films. Americans don't like movies with non-American leads. Americans don't care about India. Americans don't like movies that deal with depressing concepts (Indian poverty). American's don't care about "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" anymore. Etc., etc. etc. A lot of these arguments apply to the brilliant Let The Right One In, which is outperforming expectations as well, but not to the Slumdog degree.
While it doesn't mean that these arguments are dead - it does mean that a surprising segment of the moviegoing audience will shed their inhibitions every once in a while for a film that really reaches out and touches people. Will they go to every one of these real and genuine movies? No, not at all.
But every once in a while... they will come out, despite having all the baggage of unmarketability on top of it.
Isn't that really what a lot of all of this movie malarky is all about? Reaching out and connecting with people who wouldn't be reachable otherwise?
Just another way that Slumdog is inspiring. From a film that almost didn't get released (I think this effectively kills the "Film Festivals are irrelevant in a non-buying market" argument pretty well).
WIP picked up Slumdog Millionaire for $5 Million and nearly didn't release it. As of right now it has grossed $34 Million and won 4 Golden Globes.