STATE FILMMAKING: ‘Bubble’ Nominated for ‘Indie Spirit’ Award; ‘We Are Marshall’ Continues Gaining Yardage
By Tony RutherfordHuntington News Network Writer
Huntington, WV (HNN) – A controversial independent movie made fully in West Virginia and Ohio has garnered a ‘best director’ nomination for Steven Soderbergh. Shot on a low budget entirely in Parkersburg, WV and Belpre, OH, with a cast mostly of local talent, “Bubble” set off rage amongst cinema owners.
Magnolia Pictures, a small film distributor, utilized a release platform which upset exhibitors so much that most national chains declined to play the picture. “Bubble” opened in cinemas at the same time as it was released on DVD. Ordinarily, the gap between big screen debut and DVD release ranges from three to six months or more depending on the success of the production.
Many theatre owners saw this “experiment” as a possible harbinger for future release windows, particularly for small to mid-budgeted product. In theory, investors would receive a more rapid turn around on their money with simultaneous big screen and DVD release which would allow the marketers to tie advertising to both sets of viewers.
Although “Bubble’s” Oscar winning director Soderbergh received a nomination in the “Independent Spirit Awards,” “Bubble” actually played at only a few “arts” cinemas in major cities to poor attendance.
The Independent Spirit Awards show will be shown on the IFC channel , Feb. 24, 2007. To see other nominees in the Indie Awards visit: http://filmindependent.org/spiritawards/nominees/nominees.php.
A recognized producer/director with Mountain State roots and a fast food penchant, Morgan Spurlock, known for “Super Size Me,” has received an order for six more episodes of his F/X Network documentary series “30 Days.” The hour long series, now in its third season depicts a person’s experience in an unfamiliar, sometimes hostile, environment.
In addition, just prior to the release of “We Are Marshall,” a nationwide re-release of the Emmy Award winning documentary , “Ashes to Glory” went back into stores. Deborah Novak and Jon Witek, who produced and directed the awesome documentary on the MU plane crash, arranged with New Video Group for a nationwide re-release. Wal-Mart, Empire Books, Borders and Stadium Bookstore have copies. It is also available on the internet.
AND … just a predicted “We Are Marshall” continues producing stable box office revenue as it enters its third week of release with a ninth place finish Friday Jan 5. . It’s comfortably in 12th place in the top performing “football film” genre, but it is also high in the all important “movies with the least drops the second week.” “We Are Marshall” actually gained attendance.
This weekend’s results are only estimates, but on Friday night, the McG film took in just under another $2 million dollars at cinemas nationwide. By the end of this weekend, “WAM” could show an estimated $35 million in revenue. Currently, while “WAM” has for the most part seen its attendance increase, its competitor “Rocky Balboa” has seen a dropped so that “Marshall” held a slight lead in per screen average over “Rocky Balboa” and “Charlotte’s Web.”
Currently, “WAM” ranks #12 among “football” films and #26 among “sports dramas.” It ranked fifth in “smallest drops (in attendance) of films playing in 2,500+ theatres by showing an upsurge of 32.3%. That by the way, is more than the 23.8% increase of the film “Titanic” in its second week.
Among football films, “WAM” likely could move above “Semi Tough” ($37 million) and “Gridiron Gang” ($38 million).