[00:00.86]Hollywood Is Flush With Movies
[00:09.96]When Meg Ryan and Antonio Banderas signed up to star
[00:15.36]in an independently produced comedy-action movie
[00:18.41]called My Mom's New Boyfriend, the film's backers
[00:22.14]figured they had a slam dunk-a modestly priced film
[00:26.04]with bankable stars that would surge at the box office.
[00:29.14]The producers say the $17 million movie scored well
[00:33.52]in test screenings in the U.S. this spring
[00:36.09]and did decent business in Spain, Israel and Russia.
[00:39.14]But the U.S. distributor, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures,
[00:43.48]quietly sent the movie straight to DVD on June 17.
[00:47.39]“I believe that three years ago this movie absolutely
[00:50.71]would have been on screens, if for no other reason
[00:53.61]than the actors involved.” says George Gallo,
[00:56.73]who wrote and directed the film.
[00:58.47]These days, scores of films such as “Boyfriend”
[01:01.65]are finding there's no room at the multiplex.
[01:04.11]The reason: Hollywood is flush with roughly
[01:07.67]$13 billion to $18 billion in financing for movies
[01:11.34]that poured in over the past few years,
[01:13.43]according to bankers and producers,
[01:15.60]vastly expanding the number of pictures getting made.
[01:18.53]The flood of money is paying for films
[01:21.02]made by both relative newcomers
[01:22.84]and veteran film investors and producers.
[01:25.51]Another factor in the pullback is a rise in marketing costs.
[01:29.22]A decade ago, campaigns for independent movies
[01:32.53]were driven by free publicity and word of mouth.
[01:35.59]The crowded market is prompting distributors
[01:38.52]to spend big to distinguish themselves.
[01:40.76]According to the MPAA, the amount of money
[01:44.11]the indie labels at the major studios
[01:46.52]were spending on marketing shot up 44% to $25.7 million
[01:51.29]in 2007 from $17.8 million in 2006. Since 2002,
[01:58.98]that marketing spending has doubled,
[02:01.40]driving up competition for all films trying to
[02:04.33]gain traction in the marketplace.
[02:06.41]Yet it is increasingly common to see
[02:08.54]critical darlings of the festival circuit get trampled.
[02:11.40]Son of Rambow, a coming-of-age comedy
[02:15.00]about two boys in England who dream of filmmaking,
[02:17.35]was a darling at Sundance in 2007,
[02:20.11]where it was reportedly sold for distribution
[02:22.80]for about $7.5 million-one of the largest buys
[02:26.94]at the festival that year.
[02:28.76]Vantage released the film in May 2008
[02:30.45]to top-notch reviews. But it flopped,
[02:33.67]grossing just $1.78 million.
[02:36.64]The film was put out via a platform release on the same day
[02:40.48]that Paramount's Iron Man hit theaters in early May.
[02:43.47]While Rambow added screens through May,
[02:46.48]it never gained traction in a month
[02:48.98]that was chock-full of blockbusters,
[02:51.33]from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of
[02:53.54]the Crystal Skull to Sex and the City.
[02:55.83]“Son of Rambow is the poster child for a movie
[02:58.90]that would have worked five years ago
[03:00.73]but fails in today's marketplace.”
[03:03.15]says Mark Gill, a veteran film executive
[03:05.99]who isn't affiliated with the movie.
[03:07.82]“It got great reviews, audiences really liked it,
[03:11.11]it was well-marketed. It had everything going for it,
[03:14.05]and yet it didn't work, because there is such a glut
[03:16.95]of movies and a mass of clutter right now that
[03:19.65]nothing can break out in this climate.” |