Oh, that zany Kevin Smith. Here’s the latest turn in the release-strategy roller coaster ride that is “Red State.” Working with Ira Deutchman’s Emerging Pictures, Smith will host a “one-night only” simulcast screening of the film and Q&A in theaters nationwide September 25. Smith will be broadcasting, and hosting live, from New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. And it’s all being announced today to coincide with the VOD release for “Red State.”
But if it all works, who’s to complain? The release claims “Red State” has made just over $1 million so far in Smith’s series of 22 single engagements — which, if you were to equate it to a standard per-screen average, comes to a mighty $48,000 per engagement. Of course, it’s not a standard screening or release strategy. How big do you think “Red State” stands to be on VOD?
Full release below.
KEVIN SMITH’S RECORD-BREAKING THRILLER RED STATE SET FOR ‘ONE-NIGHT ONLY’ EVENT ON SEPTEMBER 25
-Film Crosses $1 Million Mark With Just 22 Single Engagements-
-Tops Per-Screen-Average Chart During Academy-Qualifying Run-
-Film Debuts On Video On Demand Today-HOLLYWOOD, CA, September 2, 2011– On the heels of its chart topping, Academy-qualifying run at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema, SModcast Pictures announced today the next phase of its unprecedented release strategy for Kevin Smith’s controversial thriller Red State.
On Sunday, September 25, Red State will screen at select theatres nationwide through a unique partnership with the Emerging Pictures theatre network, announced David Dinerstein, whose
D Squared Films is overseeing the films distribution for SModcast.“Red State will be made available as a ‘One-Night-Only’ event which mirrors the format of SModcast’s record breaking Red State USA Tour from earlier this year. For this screening event, Smith’s trademark post show Q&A will be digitally streamed live from Tarantino’s New Beverly into all of the participating theatres, allowing audience members to interact directly with Smith utilizing Twitter. Smith will be joined on stage by a special guest who will moderate the Q&A,” said Dinerstein.
Written and directed by Kevin Smith and produced by Jonathan Gordon, Red State stars 2011 Academy Award® winner for Best Actress Melissa Leo, Golden Globe winner John Goodman, and Michael Parks. The film debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to much notoriety when Smith ended studio bidding by buying his own film for $20 and declaring he would be self-distributing the film theatrically. Smith has since toured the film around the country to enthusiastic audiences, grossing $1,065,429 to date at the North American box office from only 22 single show engagements and its Academy-qualifying run.
SModcast released the film on March 5 when it embarked on the 15 city Red State USA Tour. SModcast spent less than $500 in paid advertising to support the tour, which kicked off at the legendary Radio City Music Hall and grossed $162,000 during one show. The film quietly topped the per screen average charts for three weekends, making it the highest per screen average film of the year and the 9th highest per screen average film of all time.
Red State also had the highest per-theater-average of any film in release for the past two weekends, averaging of $25,800 and $10,000 per theater, respectively.
Following Smith’s original mandate to maximize the potential audience while minimizing the excessive marketing costs normally associated with distribution, he and his team have devised a unique distribution plan that will make the film available on multiple platforms simultaneously, including today’s debut of the film on Video-On-Demand (VOD) from Lionsgate. Lionsgate has previously announced that the DVD and and BluRay is set to be released on October 18 to coincide with the 17th anniversary of Smith’s debut film Clerks.
Red State tells the story of a group of teens in Middle America who receive an online invitation for sex, but soon encounter fundamentalists with a much more sinister agenda.
Additional information about Red State is available at www.coopersdell.com.
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