Some filmmakers spend a great deal of time, effort, and money searching for a distributor who will offer guarantees: a guarantee that the film will get good reviews; a guarantee that the box office will be strong; a guarantee that the film will be accepted by every major digital platform; and a guarantee that the film will be profitable. But here's the reality: Any distributor who could guarantee even one of these things would be wealthier than Warren Buffett and Bill Gates combined.
Our CINEMAflix DISTRIBUTION Program, however, does offer filmmakers opportunities that will increase the chances for success: The program includes a full one-week run in a prestigious art house theater in New York and/or Los Angeles; the services of a professional, well-connected publicist to contact the critics, write and send press releases, set up interviews (when possible), reach out to selective organizations and clubs, and compile and distribute production notes; the encoding, doing the QC (Quality Control), and submitting the film to the major digital platforms and cable stations; and marketing DVDs of the film to the major wholesalers handling the retail chains, schools, colleges, libraries, and military installations.
Seize the opportunity!
NEWS BRIEFS:
Americans are cutting the cable cord at an alarming rate, and it could get worse. At least that's the message from second-quarter earnings reports, and Wall Street appears spooked, with shares of Comcast, Charter Communications, Dish Network, and AT&T all down in August.---Georg Szalai & Paul Bond, The Hollywood Reporter.
LA LA LAND, which garnered 14 Oscar nominations, is also the big winner when it comes to the profit margin. The Lionsgate musical has sung and danced its way to nearly eight times its production budget.---Brent Lang, Variety.com.
MOVIE TRIVIA:
The boots eaten by Charlie Chaplin in
The Gold Rush
(1925) were made of licorice... All of Grace Kelly's films were prohibited in Monaco, by order of Prince Rainier. That order has been rescinded... Sean Connery started to lose his hair when he was 21. He wore a toupee in his James Bond films... High
Noon was shot
after about 10 days of rehearsals. Most of the time was spent shooting the gunfight scenes... Buster Keaton's contract stipulated that he was not to smile in public... Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro were the only two actors to win an Oscar for playing the same Godfather character---Vito Corleone... Humphrey Bogart wore 5" platform shoes to match the heights of his co-stars Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid... John Wayne holds the record for most leading roles, starring in 142 films... Singing in the Rain did not win a Best Picture Oscar but the American Film Institute voted it the Best Musical of all time... John Huston holds the distinction of directing both his father, Walter (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and his daughter, Angelica (Prizzi's Honor) to Academy Award wins...General Electric tried for years and spent millions to invent films with sound. But it took a tiny company called Vitaphone to pull it off in 1927 with The Jazz Singer.
FILM EXCHANGE:
Some time ago we had a lively exchange about instituting a firm rule to prohibit infants under the age of five from entering the theater. A reader recently called very upset that theater ushers were not enforcing the rule that cell phones be shut before a film begins. Some patrons have no regard for others in the theater and think nothing of holding a cell phone conversation while the film is running on the screen. Incredible.
