The studio behind Crash, the surprise best picture winner at Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony, spent a total of $4-million promoting the film ahead of the ceremony with a targeted campaign to woo academy members. The film itself only cost $6,5-million to make.
Released in the US last May by independent studio Lions Gate, the movie trounced the clear favourite, Brokeback Mountain.
Lions Gate gave a clue as to how when it warned last month that its profits would be lower than forecast. The main reason, it said, was that it had spent an additional $2-million promoting Crash during the run-up to Sunday night. That was on top of the $2-million it had already spent. While the figures for Crash may be small by comparison with other years, the effort was nevertheless effective.
By January, before the Oscar nominations were announced and with attention focused on the Golden Globes and a flurry of other awards, Lions Gate had spent $2-million promoting the film, offering screenings to members of the various voting academies and urging voters to back the film with the time-honoured phrase so redolent of the pomposity of Hollywood, ”For your consideration”.
To make sure that everyone who counted got to see its film, Lions Gate sent out 130 000 DVD copies to members of the Screen Actors Guild, which holds a minor but influential awards ceremony. It was a surprisingly economical move, costing just 60 cents for each DVD, and it worked. Crash became the only film that SAG voters were guaranteed to have had the opportunity to see. The buzz about the film reignited, more than six months after its release, and just in time for the Oscar nominations. ”The SAG mailing is something nobody had ever done,” Lions Gate president Tom Ortenberg said. ”It was a very effective and cost-efficient opportunity.”
In early January, Lions Gate set aside a further $500 000 to promote the film, and after the announcement of the six Oscar nominations on the last day of January, a further $1,5-million.
All this is small change to the major studios, which routinely spend $10m-$20m promoting films for Oscars. In 1999, at the high point of campaigning, Miramax outspent DreamWorks to ensure Elizabeth beat Saving Private Ryan at the Oscars. This year Universal, owned by cash-strapped General Electric, is thought to have spent $5m-$10m promoting Munich and Cinderella Man. But with none of the other majors in the running for the big awards this year, the field was left open for Lions Gate.
The investment in awards is worthwhile for any studio because of the kudos it brings, a point made by Ortenberg. ”The branding that goes into a best picture nomination is really what helps attract filmmakers and acting talent,” he said recently. Feel-good ensemble Crash, showing actors caring about the world while performing in what is a fairly conventional Hollywood movie, is precisely the sort of low-budget project to bring bring talent to Lions Gate’s door.
And then there was Oprah Winfrey factor. ”Hey everybody!,” she wrote on her website last summer. ”I just saw Crash. Go see this movie. It’s superb! I’m on ‘vacay’ — otherwise I’d be on the show telling everybody to GO SEE THIS MOVIE! It’s so well done. So thought-provoking. I saw it a week ago … and I can’t stop talking about it!”
The film’s writer-director-producer Paul Haggis duly appeared on Oprah’s TV show to tell how his real-life carjack drama led to the film, while the key members of the cast also appeared to ask: ”Are you a racist?” Oprah’s O magazine also ran articles on the film. ”I believe everybody should have this in their movie collection,” Oprah told viewers.
Despite being described by one distributor as ”a made-for-TV film”, Crash has done well at the box office. On its opening weekend it took $9,1-million. By the time it ended its run in the US in September, it had taken $55,4-million. Worldwide it has taken $83,4-million.
When the awards season started, Crash was already out on DVD in the US, selling 20 000 units a week. With the nominations, sales leapt to 50 000. The Oscar win is expected to generate several hundred thousand extra sales, as well as increasing the price for TV sales and rights. From its $6,5-million investment, Lions Gate can expect to see the film’s revenues pass the $100-million mark.
Extras
Oscar winners and nominees receive a gift bag that would lift even the hardest thespian heart. This year’s includes:
- Luxury holiday in Canada
- Gift experiences, including kiteboarding and a trip on an America’s Cup yacht
- Espresso machine and cups
- Two nights in a New York hotel suite
- Twelve truffles in a hand-crafted Thai silk and teak box
- Three-night stay at Doggie Daycare, and a luxury dog bed
- Pearl and diamond necklace
- Four-night stay in Hawaii
- Silk kimono
- Year’s supply of olive oil
- Cameras with the initials of the best actress nominees encrusted in 75 cut diamonds — valued at $20 000.
– Guardian Unlimited Â