Reaching a Bigger Audience
Saving Sarah Cain comes out on DVD this week. This adaptation of Beverly Lewis’ novel “The Redemption of Sarah Cain” was originally scheduled to release in theaters nationwide. However, last fall, Fox Home Entertainment struck a deal with Lifetime Television to show the film twice during the fall. Was that a good move on Fox’s part?
Conventional film distribution wisdom would say “no!” Theatrical releases seed the DVD release. That is true. But let’s look at some numbers.
If the goal is to make a good movie and have lots of people see it, maybe showing it on a television network isn’t so bad?
The Last Sin Eater, also a book adaptation from the film team of Michael Landon, Jr., and Brian Bird (Believe Pictures) was shown in theaters last year. It had a fairly weak box office - $388,390 total domestic. If an average ticket sells for $7 (California must be on the high end of ticket prices!), that means about 56,000 people saw the film in the box office.
Facing the Giants, probably the most successful Christian film released outside of The Passion of the Christ, brought in a whopping $10,178,331. Using our average ticket price, about 1.4 million people saw that film (assuming every ticket was purchased by a first-time viewer).
Reports last fall estimated that “Saving Sarah Cain” was seen by almost 2 million people. And that happened without having to publicize and market the film nationwide, without spending a million or so dollars on prints & advertising, and without trying to build a groundswell of public support. That’s pretty amazing.
An added bonus? Many of those viewers might never have gone into a theater to see something called “Saving Sarah Cain.”
One of the best-selling series in recent years is the Love Comes Softly films, also from Landon, also never shown in theaters, but on Hallmark Television.
It’s more prestigious to have a theatrical release because there’s a perceived quality difference between the two. But if the goal is to make a good movie and have lots of people see it, maybe showing it on a television network isn’t so bad?
FWIW, the top-earning evangelical movie of all time is Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, which grossed $25.6 million in 2002. Facing the Giants is #5, behind One Night with the King (2006, $13.4 million), The Omega Code (1999, $12.6 million) and End of the Spear (2006, $12 million). What makes Facing the Giants so impressive is that it had an infinitely lower budget than any of those other films.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Thanks for the corrections, Peter. Giants did have a far greater return on their budget spend; that’s why it sticks out in my mind. But there were others with more box office, as you mentioned.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I agree that this might be a better path for some Christian films. I only go to the theaters on rare occasions - it is far too expensive. Also, $7 is what you pay for movie tickets? Thats an amazing price. In NY, where I grew up we pay $10/ticket, and the same is true where I live now (outside Philadelphia).
January 15th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Actually movie tickets here in California are upwards of $9.50. I was shocked to find the average movie ticket on BoxOfficeMojo listed at $6.78. I’d like to find that place!
January 15th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Compared to the US we pay about $16.00 per cinema ticket here in London. The cheapest we have in London is about $14.00 per ticket. You guys in America have it good. London, UK is expensive but there are ways around it.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Compared to the US we pay about $16.00 per cinema ticket here in London. The cheapest we have in London is about $8.00 per ticket (but you will hate the atmosphere). You guys in America have it good. London, UK is expensive but there are ways around it. Plus you guys have better viewing quality than we have here in the UK. Your theatres are twice as big as ours but I don’t know about the viewing experience. There are some cinemas you go to especially the pricey ones and you know that you will enjoy it as there won’t be any nuts in the cinemas - but you will pay from $19.00 up to $41.00!!! I would be aiming to surprise my wife soon with the expensive type cinema experience because she likes those type of things once in a while. At the moment we have not had any theatrical release of Christian movies since The Passion so we are praying that will change soon.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:59 am
Yeah, our pricing is better in the US. I’m at the other end of the chain; our theater is free… even concessions. It’s a ministry; how many times do you recall having to pay to be ministered too? No, it’s not a tiny screen either; it’s a 24′ wide screen in the fall, winter and spring, and a bitter 27′ wide screen in the summer, when we have a full free outdoor drive-in, complete with stereo transmitter. Check out the web-site. A few are under CVLI licence, but not that many. The problem is that while the movies show free, we still pay to get them. Some, like Big-Idea are very nice, just $25 for public performance. Others are $3 per person, and we don’t collect the money; we just pay it…. Funny thing is, I’ve talked to a VP at Fox, and I pay MORE per person for some films AFTER they are out on DVD (Amazing Grace for example) to Swank for the rental to stay legal than many of the real theaters had to when it was still in broad release! I wish I could show more features a week or two before the DVD was in general release, the way I can for any new Veggie-Tale, because than both I get a good audience, and they WILL sell more DVDs when it hits the market as well; the kids see to that!
I don’t want to make it sound negative; I think there is a real place and a business case for both DVD’s and theaters, and not just the ‘tier-1′ and ‘tier-2′ theaters!
January 18th, 2008 at 10:18 am