Want to see Kevin Smith's Red State early? Now's your chance!

Indeed, the controversial filmmaker is bringing his latest work to the On Demand spectrum for a limited run following its Oscar qualifying run recently in L.A., all in advance of its slightly more standard theatrical debut and DVD/Blu-Ray release in October. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of this movie, and it's not everyday that you can essentially watch a film before it hits theaters. Check it out and join in on the conversation about one of my very favorite pieces of cinema in 2011!

-Thoughts on the film if/when you see it?

Box Office Actuals (8/19/11 - 8/21/11): A little "Help" goes a long way...

Information obtained via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

In a weekend full of nostalgic reboots and remakes, audiences shunned leftovers and opted instead for the buzzworthy movie of the moment as “The Help” held off all challenges to the #1 spot at the weekend box office. Taking that rare climb into the #1 spot, only the third film to achieve such a feat since December 2009, “The Help” saw a minimal decline in attendance (-23.1%) and earned a strong foothold in the marketplace as a formidable box office draw.

The subject of much controversy and debate, including this article by our own Robert Hamer, “The Help” began to generate discussions reminiscent of the box office breakout that “The Blind Side” experienced in the fall of 2009. Projected to be a mid-level achiever, “The Blind Side” blossomed and drew rave reviews from audiences across all demographic and geographic locations. Shot for a mere $29 million, “The Blind Side” concluded its theatrical run with a $256.0 million haul, earned nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress, and saw lead actress Sandra Bullock win her first Oscar.

Tracking to this point shows that “The Help” does not have that same far-reaching appeal…yet. Where “The Blind Side” gained audiences in its first few weeks, “The Help” has dipped slightly, amassing a 12-day total of $71.3 million stateside. “The Blind Side” had just left $100 million in the dust at the end of its 10^th day in theaters.

Reports indicate that DreamWorks are settling in for a nice, long run into the fall with “The Help” and have already indicated steps are in place for a huge Oscar push targeting Best Picture, Director, Lead and Supporting Actress (but whom and where?), Adapted Screenplay, and technicals including Costume Design, Cinematography, Original Song, and Original Score. Those dismissive of the film's stability over the coming weeks should look forward. Doing so, you will find films that may find a tough time unseating the racially-themed drama.

Guillermo del Toro’s produced remake of “Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark” could draw a nice opening, but as this weekend proved, audiences have likely reached saturation with remakes and reboots and are seeking out fresher material. The Weinstein Company’s R-rated comedy, “Our Idiot Brother”, starring Paul Rudd is playing fine with critics but is suffering with a lackluster marketing campaign.. Elsewhere, Zoe Saldana’s “Colombiana” is drawing dismal buzz thus far and with two films, potentially not screened for critics, arriving in the first week of September (“Apollo 18” and “Shark Night 3D”), “The Help” might see robust success for some time.

For the second consecutive weekend, four films drop into theaters and this weekend, virtually all of them were met with disinterest from the populace. What happened, where and why they went wrong, as well as analysis regarding a handful of indies that are performing strong, The Weekend Breakdown, and Top 40 Most Attended Films after the cut!

Box Office Actuals (8/12/11 - 8/14/11): "The Apes" outlast "The Help"...

Information obtained via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

In a packed week of new releases both large and small, "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" held the #1 spot at the weekend box office, holding off a strong Sunday push from "The Help" to retain its box office crown. Other debuts involving teenagers dying, young adults trying to survive a bomb being strapped to one of them, and a 3-D concert movie for one of television's most popular shows all met with mediocre and/or disappointing responses.

"Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" held its ground, winning the weekend with $27.8 million at final count. Most science-fiction films slide between 55-60% in its second weekend, and "Apes" dipped only 49.2%. This greatly pleased 20th Century Fox reps, who started to boast that they could win the weekend when the film outperformed every new release on Friday, including Wednesday release, "The Help".

Cementing this franchise as one that just carries appeal across many demographics, "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" crossed the $100 million mark, earned back its $93 million production budget (shockingly low, don'tcha think?) and is closing on $200 million worldwide in 10 days. With the sequel already announced, this film might land in the $150-$175 million range domestically, which will be a tremendous success for the somewhat risky relaunch of the franchise.

A flurry of new movies vie for the almighty dollar, with "The Help" performing strong, "Final Destination 5" and "30 Minutes Or Less" splitting the vote somewhat, and what happened with the vaunted "Glee 3-D Concert Movie"??? More analysis, The Weekend Breakdown, and The Top 40 after the cut!

Today's Posters: Red State, Battleship, Tower Heist, The Muppets, Happy Feet 2, and more...

The rest after the cut...

Take a gander at the new Trailer for Kevin Smith's Red State!

It's no secret that this is one of my favorite films of the year so far, but here's a much more appropriate trailer for the type of flick that it is (though I still love the original teaser). Behold:

-Joey's Two Cents: I dig it a lot, obviously...thoughts?

Kevin Smith reveals his unique release plans for Red State!

/Film did a better job of collecting the information from his morning radio show than I did, so I'll defer to them:

The innovative, controversial but undeniably successful distribution of Kevin Smith‘s Red State will enter its next phase this Labor Day. On Smith’s morning Smodcast Plus One Per Diem Tuesday, he announced Lionsgate will exclusively handle the video on demand and Blu-ray rights to the film and that audiences can watch it beginning this Labor Day. Then, when the film opens in October, theaters showing the film will follow the screening with a live, digital, interactive Q&A and a live Hollywood Babble-On Smodcast. Read more info after the break.

Kevin Smith continues to move Red State towards a worldwide theatrical release...

...by acquiring some Canadian distribution for the flick (he always said he'd only be self-releasing the film through SModcast Pictures in the U.S.), according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Phase 4 Films has acquired Canadian rights to Kevin Smith’s Red State, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

Written and directed by Smith, Red State, about a group of American teens who receive an online invitation for sex, stars Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Kyle Gallner.

Phase 4 plans to release the film, produced by Jon Gordon, in the coming months with a marketing and distribution campaign that will include a tour across Canada.

Red State has earned more than $850K in the box office on 15 one-night engagements.

The deal was negotiated by Larry Greenberg, svp of acquisitions for Phase 4, and Cinetic Media’s John Sloss, Sloss Eckhouse LawCo LLP’s Jerry Dasti and D2 Films’ David Dinerstein on behalf of the filmmakers.

-Joey's Two Cents: It's no secret by now I'm a fan of the film, so it's very good to know that a wider group of people will soon be able to see this unique work...thoughts?

Did Kevin Smith already make his budget back with the Red State Roadshow Tour?

It certainly appears as such. In his latest post to The Red Statements (found here), he goes over the numbers (after a passage about how much Quentin Tarantino enjoyed the film) that the movie has made so far, and what it's got coming its way. Here's the relevant data from Kevin Smith himself:

Over the course of the 15 shows of the Red State USA Tour, we made almost one million dollars from ticket and merchandise sales. A few times, we had the highest per screen average in the country. We started out with a record-making show at Radio City Music Hall and went on to average 1100 people per screening. Had we booked ourselves into smaller houses, we could’ve SOLD OUT every show; but being in the larger houses cost us nothing extra.

And apparently, we managed to pull 1100 a night solely from our podcasts: when asked nightly if they heard about the show from a show at SModcast.com, an overwhelming 85/90% of the audience indicated yes (Jon swears it was 100% in Seattle). That bodes well for SIR.

You take what we made on the tour, you add that to the $1.5mil we’ve pulled in from foreign sales thus far (with a few big territories yet to sell). Add to that $3mil we’re on the verge of closing for all North American distribution rights excluding theatrical (which means VOD/HomeVideo/PayTV/Streaming).

The flick cost $5mil to make, but $4mil after the California tax incentive. One of the only things Jon and I promised the Red State investors in exchange for letting us handle American theatrical distribution ourselves was that their $4mil would be covered as soon as possible – something very few other production entities can promise or even offer. Invest a million dollars in almost any production, and you rarely if ever get your money back within five years, let alone the one year it’s looking like it’s gonna take for our guys to make their money back.

Add up all those figures above and you’ll notice our gains are higher than our spending. And without any dopey marketing figures to have to recoup, once we close the aforementioned deals (which Jonn Sloss & LawCo are working to close as we speak), simple math dictates Red State is in the black – long before any wide release. That’s music to the ears of any investor who only put up their money in September.

Ta-da!

Behold our exclusive Early Review of Kevin Smith's Red State!

You can take a look at my thoughts on the film here with my early review. There's not a whole lot of reviews out for the film yet, so consider this one of the first official takes on Red State, as well as the first early take of the year for The Awards Circuit. Big things are to come on the site, so stay tuned!
-Thoughts?

The Red State premiere last night set a box office record...

...as told in this story from The Hollywood Reporter:

Surrounded by a few thousand fans, Kevin Smith kept his cool as he unveiled his new film Red State at Radio City Music Hall Saturday night. He was in fine, foul-mouthed form as he kicked off the first of 15 sneak preview dates of his "Red State USA Tour" before approximately 3,800 of his supporters willing to fork out anywhere from $40 to over $100 per seat.

"Let this be a lesson to you that anyone can rent Radio City Music Hall," he told the crowd, "even a fat kid from New Jersey."

Smith first screened the film at the Sundance Film Festival in January -- at a debut that left a lot of distribution executives annoyed after he staged a faked "auction" for distribution rights. Having "sold" the film to himself, Smith is now distributing the picture via his Smodcast Pictures, and thus far seems to be pulling out all the stops and gimmicks to get the publicity he needs to make the $4 million picture profitable. At Radio City, that included merchandise such as posters, soundtrack dropcards (with Smith signature, $20; without, $10) and his book Kevin Smith Sells Out, which sold at a rapid pace.

Saturday turned out both buzz and a fair profit margin -- the $161,590 ticket sale earnings were the "highest per-screen for any film this year," according to producer Jonathan Gordon. If you subtract the $60,000 for the theater rental, that's a tidy one-day profit.

Kevin Smith brings Red State to the Blue State tomorrow...

...and I will be there at Radio City Music Hall in New York City to cover the premiere! Look for an extremely early review of the film (and follow me on Twitter here for up to the second coverage), and perhaps more! Whatever you think of Smith, this is an extremely interesting experiment in terms of indie film, so it's going to be fascinating to see how the film does on the road show and then in general release in October.