What drives film expansion stategies? (thinking of recent Wes Andersons in particular)

[MarcusBrody]

Does anyone know the reasoning behind the slow expansion of Wes Anderson's recent films? The Grand Budapest Hotel is rolling out rather slowly and Moonrise Kingdom did the same.

I understand why a relatively unknown indie opens small and expands as it (hopefully) builds word of mouth and public recognition. This seems odd for a film by someone like Wes Anderson, though, as the marketing budget seems reasonably ample and the last few films have been accompanied by a good amount of media appearances/coverage around the first release date. Then the vast majority of viewers can't see the film for another month. I'm no marketer, but it seems like recognition would fade a bit by the time the film hits its widest release.

Does anyone know if this strategy is common for this type of film and the logic that underpins it?

[Dukefrukem]

I would love an answer to this question as well.

[Qrazy]

His films don't pull the biggest numbers. He's about 50/50 in the box office department. Here's a breakdown which might serve as a decent explanation. It's a safer bet to release arthousey content as limited release and then if it does well expand.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/a-history-of-wes-anderson-at-the-box-office-from-bottle-to-budapest-hotel

[MarcusBrody]

His films don't pull the biggest numbers. He's about 50/50 in the box office department. Here's a breakdown which might serve as a decent explanation. It's a safer bet to release arthousey content as limited release and then if it does well expand.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/a-history-of-wes-anderson-at-the-box-office-from-bottle-to-budapest-hotel

That's helpful. It was interesting to see how little Fantastic Mr. Fox made.

It just seems odd in that it at least seems that the film is slated to expand to at least a decent number of theaters (though the final count may be contingent), but they always tend to open in 2-4 theaters for the first weekend, which corresponds with the high point of the media campaign. I can't help but wonder if the pattern ends up depressing the final gross, though I'm sure smarter people than me have thought about this.

[Gizmo]

The world can't all be Match-Cutters. Everyone I know rolls their eyes whenever I talk about Wes Anderson films (which was twice, maybe). "Those are those goofy artsy ones?"

[Henry Gale]

I think it just comes down to the fact that the awareness of films like the ones Fox Searchlight, Paramount Vantage and similar companies deal with will never have the widespread anticipation or immediate audience like the increasingly frequent, brand-name tentpoles need on their opening weekends to justify the spotlight and necessity of taking part in bigger box office competitions.

All that matters to big studios these days are the opening weekends that can instantly recoup most of the money they put into something. Movies cost a lot to distribute and advertise, so if something underwhelms in concentrated markets, then the movie companies can just pack up and move on to home video options (which nowadays with online and On Demand options cost even less without actual manufacturing) once their theatre commitments run out. It almost seems like a wasted effort attempting to go up against the likes of whatever Need For Speed and Peabody & Sherman types the week has in store, even if a few weeks down the line it might be doing comparative numbers to the next crop of four-quadrant releases that take their place. Big, loud car actioners and animated family movies could eventually do "worse", but on a bigger scale Wes Anderson hardly ever runs in to.

Which is why it's also a much harder and risky thing to have an Anderson film like Fantastic Mr. Fox (George Clooney and Meryl Streep, animated, kid-friendly... What could go wrong?) doing miniscule business in over 2,000 theatres than to allow something like Moonrise or Grand Budapest to open in only a handful of places, know his ensured audience will see it, generate hype with real people's praise for it while the press talks about it achieving one of the biggest per-screen average openings ever, and like you've all said so far, have everyone else peripherally see that word-of-mouth. Plus having its actors out there doing TV appearances and everything for a movie that's not necessarily instantly available can intensify interest for when it does show up, and studios can always mediate the most cost-effective release pattern from that awareness.

Life Aquatic and Mr. Fox had Anderson's biggest budgets, so it made more sense to try and make their money back more quickly on a bigger scale, but their performances made it clear that fairly immediate wide releases don't really pay off for him either. There are the Slumdogs and Black Swans that do unexpectedly insurmountable business with the slow-expansion strategy (and usually have awards buzz on their side), and then there are Fifth Estates that if it weren't for contractual commitments to go into wide release shouldn't ever really do so.

It comes down to playing odds with how many people will really end up caring enough to fill theatres (which are usually the biggest cities) and then seeing just how many other theatres actually want it instead of feel the need for it just because it exists.

The theatre I tried to see Grand Budapest on Tuesday was unexpectedly selling out for the whole night, as it's pretty much the only place in the city showing it. I don't think that would've happened if it was conveniently at every other multiplex too.

Sorry if you read this whole long thing and looked at it as common sense. :P I'm just never quite sure how everyone views the business side of these things.

[MadMan]

Look all I know is that I was lucky enough to see Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom on the bigscreen. I'm still hoping to get a chance to watch Grand Budapest Hotel on the silver screen however.