This is topic "Left Behind" by Cloud Ten Pictures in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 02-02-2001, 12:22 PM:
Several Rochester theatres are showing "Left Behind", a 110 minute religious-themed feature produced by Cloud Ten Pictures in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada:
http://www.leftbehindfilmproject.com/ According to the today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper, the screenings are being sponsored by area church groups:
http://www.rochesternews.com/0202left_behind.html
Is this picture being booked through normal distribution channels? Or is it being "four walled" or booked on a lease basis?
------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
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Posted by Chris Erwin (Member # 176) on 02-02-2001, 12:54 PM:
John,While I don't know about this film, I know that World Wide Pictures (Billy Graham's film ministry) has films available for rent on 35mm. You just rent/lease/borrow a screening room/theatre and then rent the film.
--Chris
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-02-2001, 02:53 PM:
There's an aritcle about this on the front page of today's Washington Post:
go to the article
It's not obvious if this is being four-walled, but it certainly does seem to be an odd distribution arrangement.
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-02-2001, 05:39 PM:
From what I have heard, Our booking department sent out a memo saying do not accept any outside sources to obtain the film for showing. I guess that means if the producer walked in the door you can't talk to him about it.
Posted by Marc Jones (Member # 29) on 02-02-2001, 06:26 PM:
To my understanding in my area the film was sponsored by local business. The person put up about three grand from what I've heard. Also, the person was supposed to be repaid if the film draws over 7000 people. I know that they also have something like 10,000 coupons for 2 bucks off the nightly admission.Hope this helps
Marc Jones
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 02-02-2001, 10:56 PM:
This sounds like what is basically a donation to a church. A local person donates money and arranges for a theater to show the film. Local church-goers are asked to make a donation in the form of a ticket to see the film. Since the price is usually higher than a regular ticket, and the church would like to keep as much as possible, they four-wall the theater.We've done something like this several times.
It's actually not a bad way to make some money. It's usually pre-sold tickets, (so you know how many people are comming) they are polite church-goers, (so they are not going to knife the seats or anything.) Even though techinally they are running the candy stand, they buy the candy and soda from us and hire one of our people to operate the stand (at a slightly higher rate than normal.) So in the end, everyone is happy.
The only bad thing is sometimes the prints are shipped to the church or person sponsoring the film- who don't think to give it to you until the last minuite. And of course, it's beat to death.
Some theaters have an "exclusivity" with a booker- meaning that only they can book a film. It just means they also want a peice of the action. So, a memo is sent out to keep the indivual managers from agreeing to run the film without checking the home office first.
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 02-03-2001, 01:53 AM:
AFAIK, this was booked through normal channels at our theatre. What the take at the box is I don't know. We did get some of those reduced admission coupons, but it wasn't clear how much they were worth exactly.Buttom line, its not doing to hot and has a made-for-TV quality to it, not to mention some of the silly themes (the anti-christ is the Secretary General of the UN, PUHLEESE!).
Posted by Greg Pauley (Member # 503) on 02-03-2001, 11:54 AM:
Showing "Left Behind" in two cites using the same deal as Marc described above in his posting. The movie is doing poor at the box office, probably because all the religious shows on TV are selling the movie on video tape!
Posted by Michael Cunningham (Member # 210) on 02-03-2001, 02:43 PM:
Our copies came via Technicolor so I'm supposing the usual distribution methods. I don't believe there was any local involvement (i.e. church sponsership). It did only moderate business opening day but local churches have promised (threatened??) to bring people in by the busload so we'll see. One local church, upon finding out that we were only planning to show it at one theatre, threatened to release a statement to the press that our corporation was anti-christian. Sigh...gotta love modern organized religion.-Mike
Posted by Harry Robinson (Member # 265) on 02-03-2001, 08:50 PM:
Speaking as a church professional, I just want to say that not all Christians believe in the exteme views expressed by this movie. Niether are all of us chasing the dollar. Some of us have an honest calling to help others. So much for that...let's get back to film.
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-05-2001, 12:17 AM:
We are playing this film right now, also. Some of the above comments about the terms etc. are right, but some are not.What happens is: Some local group, whether it be a church, group of churches, "Promise Keepers" or whatever, has to pay $3000 up front to sponsor the film.
Terms etc. are negotiated between theatre/booker and distributor just like any other film. After the terms are settled and the theatre's cut is taken out, the sponsor receives 38% of the remainder back, up to their $3000. If that amount is more than three grand, the film co. gets the excess.
The ticket prices are up to the theatre. We are just using our normal ticket prices. They are distributing these coupons, which allow people to buy tickets at "matinee" prices. This of course means more people need to see the movie in order to raise enough money for the sponsor to get reimbursed.
The "thousand people" they mention in their publicity is just a figure they used as an example. If 1000 people see the movie at $7 a ticket, and the theatre cut is 50%, the sponsor would get his whole $3000 back. (do the math.) We've shown the movie 6 times so far, and the sponsor here does not have a prayer of making their money back. We've yet to be over half full on any showing.
The movie itself is rather cheaply produced (sound is Dolby Digital), and like someone mentioned, it's been out on video since October. The "idea" behind this is, the people who have seen the movie on video (the "true believers") will get the other people to see it in the theatres.
I looked over the website for this movie. It made me kind of mad the way it portrays the movie business as just a bunch of money grubbers who are only in it for the profits, etc.
Oh well. It'll be gone next Friday and we can get back to our usual sin and corruption. 
Posted by Armin Pohl (Member # 789) on 03-12-2001, 09:30 AM:
Alliance is distributing it in Canada. It's playing at AMC and hopefully soon at my theatre. We are currently playing THE OMEGA CODE, which is another Christian flick.
www.film.ca
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-12-2001, 09:54 AM:
We played the Omega Code. We were selling that thing out. Note the Darth Vader like choke hold put on Michael Ironside.
Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 03-12-2001, 02:41 PM:
When we had it, it was negotiated to be in a certain size house. It could not be moved under any circumstances.
Posted by Jon Bartow (Member # 241) on 03-12-2001, 03:19 PM:
Having never seen "Left Behind" I really don't know for sure, but a pastor friend of mind told me that the 35mm theatrical release has a few minutes of footage that the video release does not. Anyone know for sure?
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-12-2001, 09:58 PM:
According to the website, it's "enhanced" from the video release. It has blurbs like "the explosions are bigger," etc. I took it as just a comparison between watching in on TV vs. the Big Screen. No claims about extra footage are on the website.If you want to check it out, the website for the movie is www.leftbehindfilmproject.com