Where do you live?

Very interesting debate from all you guys. I had seen the trailer for Lars and the Real girl few years back, and was really looking forward to it in the screens. But then i never heard from it again, till now.

And only today this movie came back to me and realised that it never realeased in my third world country and neither it is available on dvd to rent or buy.

So what do i do?

Option 1 – Order from Amazon or similar websites.

Option 2 – Download

Now, option 1 is a really expensive one for me coz its $23.96 (without tax) + standard international shipping. (including the time i need to wait for delivery)

Option 2 is rarely available where i can download the full movie.

Other options – Wait for it to come on HBO or Star Movies or any English movie channel. But herein lies the censorship issue of absuive language and sexual content, which hinder my experience of watching this film.

So while on option 2, i turn to torrents. My best and easy source of download without any censor control or hassle or any money. Though i dont mind paying a decent amount, iam left with no choice.

And there are many such movies that dont reach our turf. Any ideas on how to market content like these to the rest of the globe. (meaning there is world other than America and Europe)

But it’s great when a small movie finds an audience. Most of my day consists of pitches from filmmakers who say that they can make a movie for $500,000 and I always respond by saying that you can make a movie for $500,000 but that doesn’t mean you can sell a movie for $500,000.

Great article.

Yes. Roger Corman. Read “How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime”.

The biggest factor is Fox Searchlight spent A LOT more money marketing Juno then MGM did marketing Lars. I’d love to see those two budget side by side. But the biggest factor is most people in this country do not go see good movies. And that, is the sad reality.

In other but related news, check out this article on the making of the low-budget Frozen River from Slate.com:http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/impressions/2009/02/18/selling-frozen-river.

I think the correct answer to that would be the Weinstein Bros (at least back in the day), Bob Shaye (founder of New Line Cinema) and Roger Corman. There are probably others as well. Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson maybe.

No. You can’t. There is no possible way that a movie in 300 theaters can gross anywhere near a movie that is in 3,000 theaters.

What an incredibly baseless and factually incorrect statement.

Let me see if I can explain this to you without sounding like a condescending jerk. If I do, I apologize in advance.

Let’s take Speed Racer. It debuted in 3606 theatres and made 18.5 million dollars over the weekend. So that costs the studio 7.21 million dollars in prints.

Now let’s take Fahrenheit 911. It debuted in 868 theatres. And made 23 million that weekend. Which cost the studio 1.7 million in prints.

Which brings us to Paula’s great point. There are too many people out there who call themselves filmmakers but haven’t taken the time to learn the business of filmmaking. I wouldn’t want a doctor operating on me just because he watches Grey’s Anatomy and no one should try and damn a studio for faulty marketing strategy just because they read an article in Entertainment Weekly.

But Stephan Vladimir Bugaj brings up the greatest point of all. Why the hell did Lars cost 12 million dollars?!

I’m not a studio guy but as an indie producer, 12 mil for that film is so incredibly ludicrous I could write my own post on that subject alone.