When
a film director suggested
releasing eight low-budget
horror movies to be
shown for one weekend
only, Mark Borde couldn't
believe his own reaction.
"I actually said,
'That's a good idead,'"
recalled Borde, co-president
of Freestyle Releasing
LLC, an independent
film distributor in
Malibu.
The anthology "8
Films To Die For"
opened in 488 theaters
nationwide on Nov. 12.
During its three-day
lifespan, it grossed
$2.3 million to rank
number 10 in the weekend
box office competition.
"8 Films"
amounted to an ad-hoc
film festival. Each
theater agreed to show
three films on Friday,
another three on Saturday
and then two on Sunday.
Each film had two showings.
As it worked ou, the
fest turned in strong
numbers for per-screen
revenues ($4,735), beating
six of the to 10 films
according to data from
Exhibitor Relations
Co. All the other films
among the top ten had
at least 1,200 screens
Perhaps Borde would
have reacted differently
if the initial suggestion
hadn't come from Courtney
Solomon, director of
last summer's "An
American Haunting."
That film, distributed
by Freestyle, grossed
more than $20 million
and was, in Borde's
words, "a homerun
for us."
Solomon's follow-up
project - "8 Films"
- was based on a marketing
formula developed for
"Haunting".
It allowedhe entrepreneur
to reach his core audience
of 18- to 34- year-old
males in a more cost-effective
way than the major studios.
According to Borde,
studios usually distribute
a film by picking a
date, spending $20 million
a film on advertising,
putting the moviein
3,000 or more theaters
and hoping for the best.
Even the ad spending
follows a formula with
set percentages going
to TV, radio, Internet,
and newspapers.
But "Haunting"
used billboards and
the Internet to reach
its target audience.
For "8 Films,"
Freestyle repeated that
strategy, buying outdoor
ads in 35 top markets
and banners on horror-related
websites. As a kicker,
the distributor bought
a few cable spots on
MTV and Spike TV, both
channels that target
young males.
However, Borde said,
the execution turned
out much tricker than
he expected.
"It was a great
idea," he said
in retrospect, "but
a logistical nightmare." |
