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Topic: Grosses for PASSION OF CHRIST - a 100 Million in 5 days ?
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Kamakshipalya Dhananjay
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 190
From: Bangalore, India
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 03-09-2004 10:36 AM
Well, that was 'very smart'. So, that one is also ruled out. And I am sure there are no more loopholes to plug.
However, concerning the uncertainty of box office performance for this film, whoever also feels such uncertainty should realise they have been ably preceeded - the very own distributor for this film, Newmarket films 'never offered a penny towards advertising or prints of this film' - as reported by Variety today.
Quote :
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Big B.O. but skimpy profits
Distrib Newmarket succeeds, but cautiously
By CARL DIORIO
This article was updated at 7:02 p.m.
Little Newmarket has been described as this year's big success story, but it also could be termed the department of missed opportunities.
The mini-distrib is handling "The Passion of the Christ," which is headed for a domestic take of more than $300 million. Then there's "Monster," a sleeper whose gross is headed for $35 million after jumping 12% last week because of its Oscar for Charlize Theron.
These developments have made Newmarket prexy Bob Berney something of an instant folk hero in the film biz.
But here's the rub: Newmarket could have really raked in the bucks had it actually risked a few cents on these films instead of making rent-a-system deals. The producers of "Monster" begged Newmarket for financial help, but the company declined. On "The Passion," Newmarket's distribution fee is under 12%. It never offered a penny toward prints and advertising.
"We wanted to grow carefully and responsibly," Berney explained. But this show of caution, rare in show business, has cost the company tens of millions.
Berney's partners in Newmarket Films are William Tyrer and Chris Ball, who operated film investor Newmarket Capital Group for 10 years prior to launching Newmarket Films 18 months ago.
"The key thing from our point of view is finding the right films -- we never want to distribute a mediocre film," Tyrer said.
"Monster" was brought to Newmarket early in its development, but execs there -- like those at other distribs coast to coast -- passed on the project, which then was limited to an early version of the script without topliner Theron attached.
"You can't win them all," Tyrer winced with just a hint of remorse.
Newmarket acquired its other recent overachiever -- the New Zealand drama "Whale Rider" -- for a modest sum "in the single-digit millions." And it produced and distribbed 2001 release "Memento" in line with a business model that originally called for up to 50% of its titles to be self-produced.
"We're a little bit behind on the producing, but we'll catch up," Tyrer said. "What has surprised us on the business plan is that there have been a number of films available at an affordable price.
"At Sundance, there were three or four interesting films," he recalled. "Clearly, if that price goes up in the future, we'll have to focus more on production. But at this point, it wouldn't make sense."
At Sundance, Newmarket acquired "The Woodsman," which stars Kevin Bacon as a pedophile struggling to contain his affliction. Critically praised pic reps distrib's next unslotted 2004 release, with Newmarket also looking to sked a pair of Toronto fest acquisitions -- "Stander," a South African-based drama starring Thomas Jane, and "The Green Butchers," a Danish black comedy.
Newmarket Capital also continues to invest in pics produced and distribbed by others.
Meanwhile, though Newmarket Films' profit from "The Passion" has been limited to distrib fees, Tyrer said he considers the effort to be a major step in building a relationship with Mel Gibson's Icon Prods. And industryites say involvement with the high-profile release also provides an invaluable public relations coup for a company that didn't exist just a year and a half ago.
"Most people hadn't heard much about Newmarket before, but 'The Passion' has put them on the map in a big way," said Paul Dergarabedian, prexy at B.O. tracker Exhibitor Relations. "If you just do a distribution deal, the actual money in your pocket might not be big, but the PR value brings them to a level they never would have had otherwise."
And if the passionate "Passion" grosses haven't tempted Newmarket from its risk-averse inclinations, execs are nevertheless capable of at least feigning B.O. hubris.
"Call Pixar," Tyrer joked, "and tell them that we're ready."
(David Rooney contributed to this report.)
Date in print: Tue., Mar. 9, 2004, Los Angeles
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Link :
Big B.O. but skimpy profits
Besides, another major site, Boxofficeprophets.com, summarises the predicament for all of us :
quote :
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....two films with combined budgets in excess of $160 million opened to less than what a $26 million project that no studio would touch less than six months ago made in its second weekend. And here you thought The Passion of the Christ was out of surprises.
A month ago, incendiary debates were occurring about the box office prospects of The Passion of the Christ. Major media commentators were arguing that there was only one built-in audience for this movie -- Christians. In hindsight, either that argument was inaccurate or the Christian audience is a much more impressive built-in fan base than previously acknowledged. High level meetings are almost certainly occurring to debate this very topic, as studio execs decide whether The Passion of the Christ is an impossible-to-duplicate phenomenon or the dawning of a new era of big-budget biblical storylines. The irrefutable fact is that we are witnessing the greatest box office shocker since James Cameron released a movie about a boat that clipped an iceberg.
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Link : Cops and Horse Don't Have the Passion
Waiting for a YES or NO.
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Kamakshipalya Dhananjay
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 190
From: Bangalore, India
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 03-11-2004 02:01 AM
Well, as to performance of this film in India, I thought it would be inappropriate to discuss the same here because this topic delves only with North America. At the same time, given the lack of participation from people in India in these forums, it would have been even more inappropriate to open a separate topic for that.So, whatever it is that I need to say in this regard, it must be best to say it here.
First things first, I have nothing to do with ICON Productions. I have no stake there of any kind and have no stake in any other firm or company which have any stake by ICON. I wonder if anybody was justified at all in raising this doubt.
Please also see another topic that was opened today. That of pirated prints of DVD hitting streets in India. I was so optimistic about this film and about what it could do in India. With this piracy now spreading too fast here, I am unable to say anything about prospects in India, for now. But I will, soon.
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Kamakshipalya Dhananjay
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 190
From: Bangalore, India
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 03-11-2004 05:03 AM
The pirated DVDs for this film have finally hit the streets everywhere in India. And across Asia too. What price they are selling for ?
At about 2 dollars,10 cents outright (Rupees 100). They are also available for rental for as little as 40 cents (Rupees 15).
To find out more about this, I got one for myself and here is what this DVD is about :
1. The entire film is shot using a camcorder inside a movie theatre. Some shots of people moving in and finding their seats too are there.
2. The print itself has English subtitles on it.
3. The DVD cover looks exactly like those that were photographed by BBC at streets in Mexico. Two days ago BBC ran a story about pirated DVDs of this film selling very fast in Mexico.
4. The DVDs which are selling in India have subtitles in ENGLISH (in addition to that on the screen which cannot be, obviously, turned off), MALAY, THAI, CHINESE 1 and CHINESE 2. So, it is a safe bet that copies of these DVDs must have also widely circulated in MALAYSIA, THAILAND and of course, CHINA.
I then called up ICON office at Los Angeles. There is nobody there to handle issues such as these and however, I left a message in their mailbox.
That is it. In fact, nobody in India even knows who the distributor is for India. And while I was just told the name of the person by ICON's office in London, I find it impossible to locate the contact information for one Mr.Deepak Nair, the person who has obtained theatrical distribution rights for India. The distributors association in Bangalore knows nobody by that name. And also, distributor associations in some other cities too are not aware of this person or his contact information. And so, while we hunt for this information, anybody here can offer some clue or help ?
This is it. This movie has not released anywhere in Asia and with these developments, God alone knows what is in store for this film.
I had strong expectations that PASSION could rewrite record books in India ! It could have become the highest grossing foreign film ever and also, it could have done such business here that anybody who would guess numbers, however wildly, would have fell short of the final tally.
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In response to suggestion that the above post did not deserve a separate thread,
Well, there were reasons why a separate thread was started to discuss this topic.
There are no doubt plenty of posts for discussion of piracy.
1.However, this development in India comes in the wake of finding by the FBI of certain employees of a post production company involved in the piracy of the film.
2.The producer of the film, Mel Gibson openly threatening to sue the post production company citing damage in millions while also expressing the need to find if any connections exist between these suspects and the presence of widespread pirated DVDs across Mexican streets.
3.This could be a very important film in India. Pirated DVDs of all films, big or small, studio film or independent, North American or European, anything there is, all hit Indian shops within a few days of release of a film (anywhere in the world) in India. So, there is nothing special per se, for the DVDs of 'PASSION' to hit Indian streets. What is unique however, is the awareness about this film already across India and the possibility of this film to storm the Box office in India to possibly better every previous record held, whether by a foreign film or a domestic release.
4.Besides, Mel Gibson is no experienced distributor. We all know how all the leading studios deserted him and how much of a difficulty he has had to undergo just to secure a distributor. We do not know yet if he has distributors for all territories in Asia. Yet, the act of piracy in these territories could wreck severe damage to the film when it eventually releases. So, I felt, whether as a person or as an exhibitor, ICON is somewhat helpless and that it needs a helping hand. Though not sure myself of how I or anybody else can help it, I definitely thought that to place this topic in the GROUND LEVEL will elicit meaningful responses than to put it in the YAK. Sorry, FILM-YAK.
5.Foreign films have been doing disastrously in India in recent years. If one film could resurrect it, then I think it deserved a separate place to discuss threats to the film.
However, it is OK that the topic was closed. Anybody can see how much the moderators are needed. If nowhere else, at least in this particular thread !
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