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As buyers caught some hot Sundance films yesterday and more brave the sloppy snowy conditions to see titles today, the early reaction I’m getting is that buyers are holding to their resolve to not overpay. There are already offers on several films, and deals should start dropping soon. Breakout films are hard to come by. How did last year’s Sundance films fare at the box office? Here’s a chart of the domestic gross of most of the films sold at last year’s festival. Bear in mind that some of these films were bought for a pittance, and had small theatrical runs to supplement VOD business. Other deals went beyond North America, something that isn’t factored here. And still others have led to overall arrangements with filmmakers and producers that are leading to future films, which is why so much of Hollywood fixates on the new talent that gets launched at Sundance.
2011 Sundance Domestic Box Office Scorecard
(grosses culled from Boxofficemojo.com)
| Film | Distributor | Domestic Gross |
|---|---|---|
| MY IDIOT BROTHER | TWC | $24.8 million |
| MARGIN CALL | Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions | $5.3 million domestic |
| THE GUARD | SPC | $5.3 million |
| BUCK | Sundance Selects | $4 million |
| LIKE CRAZY | Paramount/Indian Paintbrush | $3.39 million |
| MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE | Fox Searchlight | $2.9 million |
| TAKE SHELTER 2011 | Sony Pictures Classics | $1.7 million |
| THE ART OF GETTING BY (HOMEWORK) | Fox Searchlight | $1.43 million |
| THE DEVILÕS DOUBLE | Lionsgate | $1.36 million |
| ANOTHER EARTH | Fox Searchlight | $1.3 million |
| BEATS RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST | SPC | $1.2 million |
| PAGE ONE | Magnolia/Participant | $1.1 million |
| Red State | Lionsgate/SModcast Pictures | $1.1 million |
| HIGHER GROUND | Sony Pictures Classics | $841,733 |
| HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN | Magnolia / Magnet | $703,372 |
| POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD | SPC | $638,456 |
| THE FUTURE | Roadside Attractions | $568,662 |
| CIRCUMSTANCE | Roadside/ Participant | $454,121 |
| PROJECT NIM
PARIAH |
Roadside Attractions
Focus Features |
$411,184
$410,638 (just opened) |
| THE INTERRUPTERS | Cinema Guild | $274,963 |
| BEING ELMO | Hanway Flms | $267,965 |
| THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED | Roadside Attractions | $258,223 |
| LIFE IN A DAY | Hanway | $252,788 |
| TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL | Magnolia | $223,615 |
| BELLFLOWER | Oscilloscope | $168,226 |
| GUN HILL ROAD | Motion Film Group | $148,994 |
| THE LAST MOUNTAIN | Dada Films | $123,000 |
| SON OF NO ONE | Anchor Bay | $30,680 |
| SALVATION BOULEVARD | IFC & SPWAG | $28,468 |
| REBIRTH | Oscilloscope | $12,358 |
| THE LEDGE | IFC/ JESS + MOSS Visit Films | $9,216 |
| ANOTHER HAPPY DAY | Phase 4 | $8,464 |
| I MELT WITH YOU | Magnolia | $6,361 |
| FLYPAPER | IFC | $5,043 |
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In the end, the risk/reward here is as good as it gets for the studios. They invest little to nothing in marketing these films and keep them in their libraries where most probably make make back the modest sums they were purchased for (and there’s always the possibility of a major return). As long as they’re not blowing $5 million on SON OF RAMBOW, this is a winning business model that works for all parties.
Guess Sundance really is more about drinking and schmoozing that finding true money making opportunities.
Oh those are the grosses… Never mind.
A nice reminder of why I’ve never made a feature film. 3-5 years of your life and an imdb credit and a ton of debt to show for it. Yippee.
You have no idea how much fun and exciting it is to make a good film you believe in. Best experience in this life.
Proving the theory that Sundance and film fests in large only serve to boost the egos of filmmakers, actors, and journalists.
Doesn’t seem like a very profitable business.
Would be much more useful with the known/estimated purchase prices. And P&A spend where the commitment was announced or leaked…
Proves again what everyone knows but does not want to admit, the festival is just an excuse for people to ski, drink and do drugs. A Disneyland of sorts for adults!
there’s too many “made for TV movies” being dressed up as movies worth paying for. Note to Hollywood, they’re not.
Just proves what a complete fail was last years Sundance. From all of those films only Ashley Olsen in Marta Marcy May Marlene got some small awards recognition. Other movies went nowhere. They failed at the box-office and failed at awards nominations.
And I still laugh at Like Crazy thing. I remember all that praise from Sundance. How it won. How they all told us what a great movie that is… And then it failed at box-office and was ignored by awards. Like it never existed. And I remember how I wanted to see it when they praised it so much. But then trailer came out. And it was so boring and depressing that I couldn’t force myself to watch it.
Elizabeth Olsen.
I wonder if there’s available information charting how the VOD business is going for releases like this. Margin Call was being used as a sort of poster child for VOD success when it made about $4 million through VOD in its first few weeks of release, but I haven’t noticed a lot of reliable charting on numbers like that.
It would be interesting to see how a full range of other Sundance/indie releases are doing as they try to balance a limited theatrical release and VOD availability.
Well for some, Sundance is still about movies.
3-5 years of your life and an imdb credit and a ton of debt to show for it.
Its a shame. 3 of those films made my personal top 10 list for the year and some others were very good.
The problem with most Sundance films is that there are only X number of people interested in those pictures…and 90% of them see them at Sundance.
Agree with the poster who said that knowing how much the films cost by way of acquisition would be helpful as well as the production budget.
+1 for Devil’s Double – shame it hasn’t done better. Margin Call was underwhelming for me personally.
I’d like to point out that some movies have a very very limited release and not much advertising.. Hence the small revenues.. I think studios should buy and then really invest
I saw Buck this weekend. it is really good. if you spend any time with animal or broken humans, you should see this inspiration.
Tucker and Dale Vs Evil was one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in years. Wish more people had seen it.
I think the poor box office performance of most of the Sundance films comes from the growing perception that the ticket buying audience has extremely little to do with Sundance and independent film.
During the indie boom of the 90s Sundance was all about exposing the audience to new films and new filmmakers. Nowadays it seems to be all about celebrities getting photo-ops in their apres-ski wear and actors getting Hollywood’s version of “street cred” by doing an indie movie. Making that connection between film/filmmaker and audience is barely an afterthought these days.
Over the last five years, few films acquired at Sundance, do north of 25 at the box office. However, sometimes you get a homerun. International, VOD and other revenue streams will get the buyer a resonalbe r.o.i., providing they buy smart. When the majors start shaking the big stick cause they can, they create false expections and in the end upset the balance the real and preceived value of the product.
There are plenty of non-sundance movies also not not making money…it’s not exclusive.
Why isn’t Submarine on the list?