Little pictures have a big year
Playing against type, 'Monsoon Wedding' and other niche films were
very profitable for Hollywood in 2002.
By Lorenza Muñoz, Times Staff Writer
http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-et-munoz3jan03.story


** List of the top independent/niche films are listed below **


Call it the year of the niche-buster.

Flying well under "Spider-Man's" big-budget radar was an intriguing
spate of little movies that made lots of money by playing against
Hollywood stereotype.

Movies such as "Bowling for Columbine," "One Hour Photo," "Monsoon
Wedding," "Empire," and even the obscure French film "Brotherhood of
the Wolf," made 2002 one of the most successful years ever for
specialized fare.

"What you saw [in 2002] was a lot of really good specialty or niche
films in their genre," said Chris McGurk, MGM's chief operating
officer. "They were these unexpected little gems." The shiniest
jewel, of course, was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the $5-million
movie that turned into the highest-grossing independent film ever, so
far earning $222 million to yield the year's largest return on
investment for any movie, large or small.

However, "Greek Wedding" was just one of the so-called specialized
films that contributed to Hollywood's record-breaking year at the box
office, with ticket sales for all films projected to surpass $9.3
billion, compared with 2001's $8.1 billion, a 13.8% increase.
Admissions for 2002 are estimated to exceed 1.5 billion people,
compared with 2001's 1.4 billion.

Of course, the year's blockbusters, like "Spider-Man," "The Lord of
the Rings: The Two Towers" and "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of
the Clones," were the dominant players at the box office, and no one
expects Hollywood to retreat from its heavy reliance on sequels and
big-budget movies.

But the performance of 2002's specialized films -- which range from
such easily accessible feel-good fare as "Greek Wedding" to more
challenging offerings such as "Y Tu Mamá También" -- has given
studios the financial incentive to make and distribute more smaller-
budget movies.

Last year, specialized films accounted for nearly 7% of the market --
a 3% increase from 2001. While "Greek Wedding" accounted for most of
that jump, each of the top 10 specialized films grossed more than $10
million, according to Nielsen EDI Inc., a box-office tracking firm.
(The company defined "specialized" as films that played in fewer than
500 theaters in their first three weeks and fewer than 1,500 theaters
in weeks four through six.)

"It's an encouraging picture," said Nancy Utley, head of marketing
for Fox Searchlight, which turned a profit on such relatively
inexpensive films as "The Banger Sisters" and "One Hour Photo." "The
selection was spread over a number of different films, and I think
that is helping all of us."

For example, MGM's "Barbershop," which cost only $12 million to make
and an additional $10 million to market, has made more than $75
million.

"If they are made at the right cost, then that is a very good
business and a satisfying business to be in," said Jeff Blake,
president of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony, which had
its best year ever with "Spider-Man" but also made one of 2002's more
offbeat movies, "Adaptation," for $30 million. (So far, the box
office verdict is out on "Adaptation," which has grossed $4 million
on only 100 screens.)

Conventional wisdom has it that a big Hollywood movie needs to gross
more than $100 million to be considered a hit. But as budgets and
marketing costs continue to skyrocket, crossing that threshold does
not guarantee profitability. "Road to Perdition," "Minority Report"
and "Red Dragon" grossed a collective $330 million, but due to steep
profit and production budgets and profits divided among stars,
producers and directors, the three movies together will not make
much, if anything, for the studios.

Despite their modest size or "indie" style, most of the year's
successful specialized movies had a big studio behind them. Every
studio except Warner Bros. has a specialty division, such as Fox
Searchlight, MGM's United Artists or Universal's Focus Features,
which find or produce smaller movies and market them to specific
audiences.

"I think that there is a big, smart, upscale audience out there,"
said Peter Rice, head of Fox Searchlight, who added that the movie
industry is also taking advantage of the proliferation of cable-TV
outlets to reach niche audiences.

Fox Searchlight's Utley said a good marketing campaign has a very
targeted message. For "One Hour Photo," the ads focused on the idea
that your friendly neighborhood photo developer guy could be a
stalker. "We let people get that shiver of recognition that this was
something that could happen to them too," Utley said. An effective
campaign also

targets a specific audience, she said. For Jennifer Aniston's "The
Good Girl," Utley's team advertised on reruns of the actress' TV
show, "Friends" -- a cheaper and effective way to target her hard-
core fans.

Even the Universal-distributed French period film "Le Pacte des
Loups," or "Brotherhood of the Wolf," succeeded last year in finding
an unlikely audience -- teenage boys. Universal sold the 18th century
tale of a rampaging beast as a " 'Matrix'-meets-'Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon' " martial-arts flick, making it the second-highest-
grossing French film in the United States in the last two decades.

Universal bought the film for a few hundred thousand dollars in an
internal exchange with its sister company, Studio Canal, which
produced it; the film has grossed $10.9 million. The ads for the
movie, which ran on such cable-TV networks as MTV, did not give a
hint that the film was in French. Thus, many moviegoers turned out
for the film, never realizing that they were in for subtitles. In the
end, said Universal Co-Chairman Marc Shmuger, it didn't matter. "The
last place a lot of that audience would find itself is in a foreign-
language movie and yet they found themselves there," said Shmuger,
who added that the film is doing brisk video and DVD sales.

And clearly, teenage boys aren't the only desirable target for
specialized fare. While they still are the most reliable movie fans,
sure to turn out on opening weekend, grown-ups increasingly are well-
represented too. From 1990 to 2000, the proportion of moviegoing 50-
to 59-year-olds doubled, from 5% to 10%, while the proportion of 16-
to 20-year-olds dropped, from 20% to 17%.

"The baby boomers are big moviegoers. Now that we are getting older,
we are going to the show more often than the comparable [World War II
generation]," said Dan Marks, president of Nielsen EDI Inc.

The diverse array of potential audiences is what prompted the studios
to form their specialty divisions in the first place. Although some
complain that indie filmmaking is being corrupted by studio
involvement, the backing of the entertainment giants can bring some
clear benefits to a smaller film, especially in terms of getting it
placed in theaters or video stores.

But some, like Newmarket Films President Bob Berney, say good
marketing and good movies are more important than big studio clout.

"I don't think it has anything to do with studio clout; it's all
about the specialized marketing coming from these [studio]
divisions," said Berney, previously vice president of marketing and
distribution for IFC Films, where he oversaw the campaigns for
both "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and the Mexican film "Y Tu Mamá
También," which was bought for less than $1 million and went on to
make more than $13 million.

At Newmarket, Berney headed the marketing campaign for the $1-million
HBO-produced film "Real Women Have Curves," which has made about $5
million by finding its audience -- women of all ethnicities and ages.
The selling point? Body weight and self-image issues.

Universal, along with its Latino specialty arm, Arenas Entertainment,
also made a bundle on the urban drama "Empire," which cost $650,000
to acquire and has gone on to make more than $15 million.

"The image that comes to mind with specialized film tends to be very
up-market, and yet both of those movies played to a quite different
crowd than that stereotype," said Shmuger. "The success of
['Brotherhood of the Wolf' and 'Empire'] is indicative of the fact
that specialty film is not a single flavor. It is really a huge
multitude of styles and forms."

"Bowling for Columbine," a Michael Moore documentary on America's
fascination with firearms, has become the highest-grossing
documentary ever, even surpassing 1991's "Madonna: Truth or Dare."
Moore's entertaining and unapologetically political documentary,
which MGM/UA picked up at Cannes for less than $3 million, has gone
on to make $15 million. Beyond the big cities, it is also resonating
in the country's heartland, playing to sold-out crowds in such places
as Omaha, Neb., and Milwaukee.



MGM, whose year was marked by both the expensive war
flop "Windtalkers" and the highly successful James Bond franchise
movie "Die Another Day," also got a boost toward the end of the year
from such small wonders as "Bowling," "Barbershop" and "The Crocodile
Hunter: Collision Course."

This year, MGM is coming out with more of the same $15-million to $25-
million fare, including "Molly Gunn" with Brittany Murphy and "Agent
Cody Banks" with Frankie Muniz.

"I know you are going to see more of the higher-concept-marketable-
lower-budget-niche movies from MGM," said McGurk. "You know exactly
what you've got and who the audience is. The bulk of our slate is
movies that are in that realm."

Times Staff Writer John Horn contributed to this report.

Top 10 specialized films for 2002

Specialized films are defined as those that play in fewer than 500
theaters in their first three weeks of release and fewer than 1,500
theaters in weeks four through six. This ranking includes films
released between Jan. 2 and Dec. 29 and excludes Imax films. Rank
Film Distributor Total to date
1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding IFC Films $222,517,469
2. One Hour Photo Fox Searchlight $31,575,595
3. Frida Miramax $20,305,922
4. Punch-Drunk Love Sony Pictures $17,791,031
5. Bowling For Columbine MGM/UA $15,203,743
6. The Good Girl Fox Searchlight $14,018,296
7. Monsoon Wedding Focus Features $13,882,786
8. Y Tu Mamá También IFC Films $13,649,881
9. Brotherhood Of The Wolf Universal $10,928,863
10. Far From Heaven Focus Features $10,048,405
Source: Nielsen EDI