Tribeca 2012 Distribution Report Card
It seems like just yesterday I was reporting to you on SXSW and in the ever expanding festival circuit it is now time to fly over to the start of the Tribeca Film Festival. This still very young festival takes a much different approach than SXSW by having an industry office, press and industry screenings, they have a distribution branch and help to support the releases of a number of films from the festival each year.
Despite all of that, the festival suffers from a number of shortcomings. It is so close to Cannes (and its massive market) that the festival can be easy to dismiss. Tribeca Film buys so many movies from their festival that it makes it even less desirable to buyers. And finally there is the NYC problem. It can be hard to get local industry to attend and network when they are just happy to be home for a change. Similarly for those of us in from out of town, the city offers a wealth of other options that serve as distractions when we should be singularly immersed in film. I’m not going to lie, there are some films I will not be seeing because I got comps to see Kinky Boots (Which is at least based on an indie film).
The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival saw two documentaries gross about $2 million each. Both of those films (Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Magnolia) & Bully (TWC)) were rare exceptions to the rule, but are at least worth citing in terms of the potential for a breakout film to premiere at the festival. 2012 has yet to produce a film that grossed over $500k theatrically and only Struck By Lightning could really be labeled a VOD hit.
That said, the 2012 crop made clear that the festival can be a great launchpad for LGBT films and also documentaries. Four films that premiered at the festival last year and did not have distribution attached have gone on to gross $100k or more. Both narrative films that accomplished this feat feature gay story lines. Any Day Now which won the Audience award at the fest (and basically every other fest it played at) has grossed over $200k theatrically in North America courtesy of Music Box Films.
Strand meanwhile took on Yossi the sort of sequel to the Israeli military love story Yossi and Jagger, which they released over a decade ago. Yossi has grossed over $116k and is still playing in theaters, meanwhile the former has seen its DVD sales sky rocket in light of the release. Yossi was a smart follow up on the part of Strand Releasing.
On the documentary side, The Flat showed the strength of Israeli subject matter and is the highest grossing film from the fest last year with a total of $471,842. It was released by Sundance Selects and outperformed a number of high profile Sundance docs.
Tribeca Films, which is really at its heart an ulta-vod label, handled a number of films. More so than any other company that was active at last year’s festival. The theatrical box office numbers for these films are largely abysmal. Newlyweds, Supporting Characters, Rubberneck, Booker’s Place, and The Giant Mechanical Man have all grossed under $10k meaning that more people saw them at the festival than saw them in their entire theatrical window. Their one ray of light is Struck By Lightning which while only producing a box office total of $28,378 is on track to do over $1,000,000 on VOD. That thanks in no small part to the loyalty of Glee fans and the trendy TV star filled cast.
It is also worth noting that Tribeca Film distributed Oscar nominee War Witch. The Canadian Foreign Oscar entry was an Award Winner at Berlin, but was not bought until it had its North American premiere at Tribeca. It has grossed $67,425 to date but still has almost 20 markets left to open in.
Magnolia was also an active buyer, they came to the festival with Jack and Diane which grossed a paltry $1,142, and also acquired The Good Doctor ($5,206) and Deadfall which towered above the other two with a still modest $64,241.
Key doc distributors found modest success across the board at the fest. The Revisionaries grossed just under $20k with Kino Lorber behind it, Paladin heralded Mansome, the latest from profilic doc filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, to the tune of $36,280 and Cinedigm had one of its largest grossers with Don’t Stop Believin: Everyman’s Journey. It’s still in theaters and has managed just under $60k with a number of theaters yet to play
A number of films pursued some form of self-distribution to varying success. TFC client The Playroom partnered with Freestyle and has grossed slightly over $5k. Sexy Baby and Fame High had DIY theatricals, but did not report grosses. Burn is easily the most successful having grossed $111,300 in addition to special screenings all over the country in rapid succession that have been going on for months. The mix of traditional exhibition and large event screenings has swept the film across the country.
IFC was a big buyer, but many of their films have yet to be released, now a year later. Cheerful for the Wedding and Knife Fight were both disappointments grossing under $10k theatrically. They did not report box office grosses for IFC Midnight’s In Their Skin (originally called Replicas), but it is now available on Amazon VOD and DVD.
The Girl, starring Abbie Cornish has grossed just over $35k so far since being released by Brainstorm Media.
Films coming out soon include Drafthouse Film’s Graceland, Factory 25’s Future Weather, Wreckin Hill’s While We were Here, Arc’s Stand Off (formerly Whole Lotta Sole), Film Movement’s Room 514, and Sony Woldwide’s star studded Revenge For Jolly!
At present, about 60% of premieres from last year’s fest have some form of distribution in place for the US. That places it only slightly behind SXSW, but ahead of juggernaut Toronto International Film Festival. For the filmmakers, premiering at the festival, I encourage you to be patient and diligent. The top box office performers in most cases were not bought until after Cannes. Better to be slow for the win, than rush and wind up losing in the end.
I look forward to seeing you all at Tribeca Film Festival 2013!
BONUS: DOCUMENTARY POWER
As with SXSW, about 20% of features raised at least some form of funds through crowd funding. The documentary Bridegroom is premiering at this year’s festival and raised a pre- Veronica Mars – stunning total of $384,375! The film is helmed by TV legend Linda Bloodworth Thomason.
Bryan Glick April 17th, 2013
Posted In: Digital Distribution, Distribution, Film Festivals, Theatrical
Tags: film sales, Israeli film, LGBT film, theatrical distribution of film, Tribeca Film, Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Wrap up
by Bryan Glick
Sandwiched in between SXSW and Cannes, it is very easy to dismiss or overlook the Tribeca Film Festival. Yet, last year’s crop of films included the world premieres of two of the highest grossing documentaries of 2012 Bully and Jiro Dreams of Sushi. However, most buyers seemed much more hesitant to strike this year.
Part of the issue is that Tribeca Films went all out acquiring The Giant Mechanical Man (starring Jenna Fischer and Chris Messina), Sleepless Night (France, estimated budget €2.5m) , Struck By Lightning (with Christina Hendricks and Dermot Mulroney), Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story (documentary), War Witch (Canada, estimated budget $3.5m), Resolution (estimated budget $1m), Side By Side (documentary, produced by Keanu Reeves) and Death of a Superhero (Germany/Ireland, estimated budget €3.8m) (The latter two premiered at Berlin and TIFF), so most major buyers settled for one title or none at all.
Outside of Tribeca Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight were among the most active buyers. The latter took US rights to the world premiere Replicas (Canada with Selma Blair and Joshua Close) and US and UK rights for As Luck Would Have It (Spain with Salma Hayek) which premiered at Berlin. Meanwhile, their sister division, Sundance Selects, went for North and Latin America, UK, and Scandinavia rights to The Flat (Germany, documentary) and also grabbed the best narrative film winner Una Noche (US/UK/Cuba with Dariel Arrechaga) for North America. In addition, the fest also hosted the North American premiere of Beyond the Hills (Romania) which they acquired out of Berlin. IFC got in the game with US rights for Knife Fight (Sweden with Jennifer Morrison and Carrie-Anne Moss, estimated budget $7m).
The only other distributor to acquire multiple films was Film Buff. They secured digital distribution rights to Knuckleball! (documentary) and US rights to The Russian Winter (US/Russia, documentary)
The star studded Revenge for Jolly (with Elijah Wood, Ryan Phillippe & Kristen Wiig) got US and Canada covered courtesy of Sony Pictures Worldwide and the festival award winning The Revisionaries (documentary) was acquired for North America by Kino Lorber. Cinedigm continued its banner year with US rights to Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (documentary about the band Journey who hired their new lead singer via Youtube). Another company making their presence known was, Entertainment One, who couldn’t resist getting North American rights for Freaky Deaky (with Christian Slater, Crispin Glover and Michael Jai White, estimated budget $10m). Meanwhile, Strand Releasing paid six figures for North American rights to Yossi (Israel, estimated production budget $500K), continuing a very effective partnership with the popular Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox. Other films to sell include Whole Lotta Sole (UK, with Brendan Fraser and Colm Meaney) which went to Arc for near seven figures, Room 514 (Israel) was bought for North America theatrical by Film Movement, and Unit 7 (Spain, estimated budget €3.5m) which sold for US Pay TV and VOD to HBO.
Presently, the Tribeca festival arguably does a better job serving as a platform for films that have already been seen elsewhere or have distribution in place. Films that had North American or world premieres, but were bought before the fest include Magnolia’s Jack and Diane (with Juno Temple and Kylie Minogue), a partnership that featured sports themed documentaries sponsored by ESPN Films with Broke, Benji, and Town of Runners, The HBO Doc release One Nation Under Dog, the Netflix exclusive documentary The Zen of Bennett (about singer Tony Bennett), Cinema Guild’s “Planet of Snail (Finland/Japan/Korea), and Fox Searchlight’s box office bomb Lola Versus (with Greta Gerwig and Bill Pullman) which to date has grossed just barely over $250,000 theatrically in North America. Two special release docs Wagner’s Dream (NCM Fathom Events) and Queen: Days of Our Lives (Eagle Rock Entertainment) were also a part of the slate. Another film to sell before the festival was the Morgan Spurlock documentary Mansome, which Paladin acquired for US Theatrical. It has since grossed a very wimpy $36,280 showing that the days of, “Super Size Me” have long since passed.
This Keanu Reeves produced doc opened last week
FINAL THOUGHTS: Several of these deals have only taken place in the past few weeks (though the fest was back in April) and there were fewer than five deals to report during the festival. There is still a lot of value to screening at Tribeca, but it seems it serves more as a pre-launch into the Cannes market. With Tribeca Films buying so many films both before and after the festival, it raises the question of what is there for other buyers? They have also yet to have a film that has broken out both theatrically and on VOD though “Struck by Lightning” has real potential to do strong business.
Conspicuously absent this year was Magnolia Pictures, Oscilloscope, and The Weinstein Company. All of them are based in Manhattan and TWC and Magnolia struck documentary gold with films they bought at last year’s festival. It is doubtful that any of them would jump into the fray at this point, but it does seem to hint that the commercial prospects for films this year at the festival were not perceived to match those of last year’s slate. The festival still has to figure out how to excite the industry in NYC and convince them that they should go to a festival in their own town.
All that said though, the amount of deals shows that the festival is an increasingly good alternative to Sundance and potentially even SXSW.
ADDITIONAL FESTIVAL DEALS
Since the last blog posts about SXSW and Sundance there are a few more deals to report and some DIY movement.
-Sundance saw a number of films announce deals or DIY plans in the past month.
-Wolfe Releasing secured US DVD/VOD rights to the Sundance documentary Love Free or Die. In addition and in partnership with Wolfe, Kino Lorber will handle the film for educational/non-theatrical screenings. It will have its television premiere on PBS stations nationwide as part of the series “Independent Lens.”
– Fellow US Documentary competition title A Place At The Table (It was called “Finding North” At Sundance) was acquired for the US by Magnolia Pictures. They will release in partnership with Participant Media. The deal was negotiated by Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment.
-Drafthouse films went for Wrong and will release the film in North America in 2013. It is only the third World Dramatic film to get distribution in the states from this years festival.
-Kimstim Films will be releasing Bestiaire theatrically starting October 19th. This makes it the second of the New Frontier films to secure a theatrical release this year.
-Grand Jury Prize winning documentary The House I Live In will be released theatrically by Abramorama with guidance by Cinetic. Snag films has acquired domestic distribution rights to the film.
-Earlier this month, world documentary competition film Big Boys Gone Bananas did a DIY theatrical, Oscar qualifying run in NY and LA.
There are still over two dozen films from this year’s Sundance that have yet to sell or establish DIY distribution. Of those, almost half were in the world dramatic competition section. Still, when compared to other film festivals, its sales numbers are fantastic! Over ¾ of the films that premiered at the festival this year have been acquired or announced plans for DIY distribution.
On the SXSW front, IFC Midnight decided to stick its teeth into The Jeffrey Dahmer Files (Formerly called “Jeff”). They acquired both North American and UK rights. The deal was negotiated by Submarine Entertainment. Producers Distribution Agency is betting on Brooklyn Castle which they will release in the US October 19th. Based on how their first three features The Way (BO gross $4.4m), Exit Through the Gift Shop (BO gross $3.2m) and Senna (BO gross $1.6m) did this should be one of, if not the highest grossing film to come out of SXSW. Finally, Tribeca Films could not say no to Somebody Up There Likes Me (with Nick Offerman). They took North American rights to the SXSW world premiere. The deal was negotiated by Gray Krauss Stratford Des Rochers LLP. Snag Films continues its best of fest approach and acquired domestic distribution rights to Grand Jury Prize documentary Beware of Mr. Baker Abramorama is handling the theatrical.
A full list of sales deals from Tribeca is listed below. Box office grosses and release dates are current as of August 19th.
| Film | Company | Territories | Sales Company | Box Office/ |
| Release Date | ||||
| As Luck Would Have It | IFC Midnight | US and UK | Premiered at Berlin | |
| Benji | ESPN Films | PRE FEST | ||
| Beyond the Hills | Sundance Selects | North America | Wild Bunch | |
| Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story | Tribeca Films | North America | Greenberg Traurig, LLP | |
| Broke | ESPN FILMS | PRE FEST | ||
| Death of a Superhero | Tribeca Films | $607 | ||
| Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey | Cinedigm | US | ||
| Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie | Magnolia | US | Submarine Entertainment | |
| Freaky Deaky | Entertainment One | North America | Paradigm | |
| Jack and Diane | Magnolia Pictures | Worldwide | ||
| Knife Fight | IFC | US | WME INDEPENDENT | |
| Knuckleball | Filmbuff | Digital Distribution Rights | September | |
| let fury have the hour | paladin | |||
| lola versus | fox searchlight | acquired pre fest | $252603 | |
| Mansome | Paladin | US Theatrical | $36,280 | |
| One Nation Under Dog | HBO Doc Films | PRE FEST DEVELOPED | ||
| Planet of Snail | Cinema Guild | US | Bought out of IDFA | $7978 |
| Queen: days of our lives | Eagle Rock Entertainment | PRE FEST ALREADY ON DVD | ||
| Replicas | IFC Midnight | US | Turtles Crossing LLC | |
| Resolution | Tribeca Films | North America | XYZ Films | |
| Revenge For Jolly | Sony Worldwide | US and Canada | UTA Independent Film Group | |
| Room 514 | Film Movement | North America | ||
| Side By Side | Tribeca Films | North America | Justin Szlasa and attorney Marc Simon | $6956 |
| Sleepless Night | Tribeca Films | US | Bac Films | |
| Struck By Lightning | Tribeca Films | US | Traction Media and ICM Partners | |
| The Flat | Sundance Selects | North/Latin America, UK, Scandinavia | ||
| The Giant Mechanical Man | Tribeca Films | US | $7,396 | |
| The Russian Winter | Film Buff | US | ||
| The Visionaries | Kino Lorber | North America | October | |
| The Zen of Bennett | Netflix | Exclusive | bought Pre fest | |
| Town of Runners | ESPN Films | PRE FEST | ||
| Una Noche | Sundance Selects | North America | ||
| Unit 7 | HBO | US Pay TV and VOD | Vicente Canales’ Film Factory | |
| Wagner’s Dream | NCM Fathom Events and the Met | Screened with The Ring Cycle in May | ||
| War Witch | Tribeca Films | US | Premiered at Berlin | |
| Whole Lotta Sole | Arc | US | ||
| Yossi | Strand | North America | Films Distribution partner Nicolas Brigaud-Robert |
NB: In an effort to put these films in a useable context for filmmakers/investors/distributors, we have provided information (when available) on country of origin, notable names involved, and estimated production budget. From this information, one can see where the sales trends seemed to be at the festival.
Orly Ravid August 22nd, 2012
Posted In: Distribution, Film Festivals, Theatrical
Tags: documentary, festival distribution, film distribution, foreign film, independent film, independent film distribution, independent film marketing, Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, theatrical release, Tribeca Film Festival