INSIGHT REPORT WHAT MAISIE KNEW bfi.org.uk Contents Introduction 2 Executive Summary 3 Section One: Overview 4 Section Two: Planning and Execution 4 Section Three: Results 8 Section Four: Lessons and Conclusions 11 1 INTRODUCTION The following report is an evaluation of the performance and lessons of the day-and-date multimedia release of What Maisie Knew by Curzon Film World. The film was released in cinemas on What Maisie Knew requested and was August 23 and was simultaneously awarded £150,000 by the BFI, which was available for online rental through used to support the £244,000 marketing on-demand services: Sky Store, iTunes, spend to widen the reach and scope of FilmFlex and Curzon Home Cinema (CHC). the release on all platforms. Curzon spent £79,000 on online and VOD marketing, The window for each VOD platform £78,000 on press and magazines; and varied with two weeks on Sky, four weeks £87,000 on outdoor. on FilmFlex, six weeks on iTunes and throughout on CHC, which also became This report is based on a number of available on the BT VOD service in the measures and key indicators, including: first week of October. The DVD release was held back beyond the conventional s$ISTRIBUTOREXPECTATIONS 16/17 week period until January 6, mainly s/PENINGWEEKENDEXITPOLLSCINEMA because of availability issues during the Christmas period. s&INANCIALFIGURESFROMALLPLATFORMS The release focused on creating a s&URTHERRELEVANTRESEARCH ‘premium window’ of simultaneous release in theatres and on selected VOD platforms, The conclusions are based on an objective contrasting with later standard windows of view of the data, interviews both before release on DVD, other VOD services and after the film’s release, and on and television. experience of the UK distribution and exhibition market. This report uses performance data, including box-office data and information The report evaluates the performance on visitors and sales from all platforms. of an individual film but it also tries to It is also informed by the results of exit explain the context of the release and polling data carried out during to suggest lessons for other films trying the opening weekend by pollsters similar strategies. First Movies International. 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY sWhat Maisie Knew is a drama, roughly s4HEMARKETINGCLEARLYPOINTEDCONSUMERS based on the Henry James novel of the to the variety of ways to see the film same name, directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel. It premiered at Toronto s4HECRITICSWEREMOSTLYPOSITIVEABOUTTHE in 2012. film with a few high-profile exceptions. s4HEFILMSSTARSINCLUDE*ULIANNE-OORE s4HEFILMFOCUSEDONINDEPENDENTVENUES Steve Coogan and with a highly praised without targeting multiplexes, and debut for the child playing Maisie, accepting that there would be a number Onata Aprile. of cinemas refusing to show the film given its release strategy. s4HEFILMHADAMODEST53RUN OPENING in May 2013, taking just under £0.7m with s4HEFILMREACHEDITS@LOWTHEATRICAL its widest release reaching 122 cinemas. target of £350,000 but was a long way short of its ‘high’ forecast of £500,000. s)NTHE5+ THEFILMWASRELEASED simultaneously in theatres and on s4HERELATIVELYLOWFORECASTWAS ACCORDING on-demand services, including Sky to Curzon, partly because it wanted to Store, iTunes, Filmflex and the Curzon concentrate on what it believed were the Home Cinema VOD site. stronger options for VOD revenues. sWhat Maisie Knew took £330,186 in its first s4HEMAJORITYOFTHEAUDIENCE WAS four weeks at the box office. made up of regular cinemagoers, and exit polls suggested most were strongly s0REMIUM6/$REVENUESWEREMORETHAN committed to the cinema experience. £65,000, well ahead of expectations. s4HEAUDIENCESKEWEDSTRONGLYTOWARDS s/NLINERENTALSFROMI4UNES &ILM&LEX women (68% to 32%). and Sky Store topped 20,000, 74% higher than Curzon’s stated expectations s4HEREARESTRONGREASONSTOBELIEVE before release, while the Curzon Home that the film underperformed in the Cinema sales of 671 transactions after theatrical market but it did easily eight weeks were the highest for a exceed its VOD projections. day-and-date title since the service s3KY3TOREWASEASILYTHEBEST launched in 2012. performing VOD service. s-EDIASPENDWASa SUPPORTED by £150,000 from the BFI. Marketing was split fairly evenly between press, online and outdoor. 3 SECTION ONE: 1.1 Release strategy OVERVIEW What Maisie Knew was released day-and-date through: s4HEATRICAL What Maisie Knew is a drama, loosely s3KY3TORE based on Henry James 1897 novel, and sI4UNES dealing with the difficult issue of a child’s s&ILM&LEXSERVICES WITH6IRGINAND&ILM perspective on divorce. s#URZON(OME#INEMA The film debuted to mostly critical acclaim The day-and-date on-demand release was at the Toronto International Film Festival focused on streaming, through online in 2012 and opened in the US in May 2013 rental services. The stated target was with an ‘R’ rating, grossing a modest £0.7m. 11,500 sales, generating income of around £40,000, which the next section shows it It still came to the UK and the Republic considerably exceeded. of Ireland, through Curzon Film World, on the back of strong US reviews and with a ready-made word of mouth. Methodology There had been particular praise for This report is intended to test the effect the performances of its stars, including of the release on financial performance Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan, Alexander and audience choice. It uses a number Skarsgard and a young newcomer in of measures: Onata Aprile. s$ISTRIBUTOREXPECTATIONS UK reviews were generally positive with a few notable exceptions (The Guardian s%XITPOLLSIN,ONDON!UGUST AND being the highest profile) and review Glasgow (August 28) aggregator suggested a 77% rating s&INANCIALFIGURESFROMALLPLATFORMS from ‘Top Critics’, with 82% approval from audiences. s/THERRELEVANTINDUSTRYDATA It opened on August 23 in 43 theatres, The conclusions are based on an objective with simultaneous release on VOD view of the data, interviews both before services, including Sky Store, iTunes, and after the film’s release, and on FilmFlex (through Virgin Media and experience of the UK distribution and Film4) and Curzon Home Cinema. The exhibition market. DVD was due for release on January 6. The report evaluates the performance of The emphasis was on creating a ‘premium an individual film but it is important to window’ of simultaneous reach, which understand the context of the release, would allow a single marketing push, particularly when assessing future generating strong revenues online. potential. 4 Windows Exploitation Table 23rd August 23rd 3rd 10th 23rd 30th 6th August September September September December January (wk2) (wk3) (wk4) (wk6) (wk21) (wk22) Cinema Curzon Home Cinema FilmFlex Virgin Media/Film 4 iTunes Sky Store Rental DVD SVOD (Netflix) Free TV/SVOD sold upfront There are some factors that need to be This report also comes before the considered in reading the report. One is DVD release, which will offer a second that day-and-date releases are rare and essential piece of research about whether have tended to attract attention that day-and-date releasing has any effect arguably may distort results. on the still essential conventional home entertainment formats. It should be noted, however, that the release of What Maisie Knew generated Nonetheless, the poll questions were little of the press around its release designed between SampoMedia and strategy that has followed some previous Curzon to provide as much relevant detail experiments. The attention on the range about audience sentiment and choice as of multimedia viewing options then possible. The data on which this report is came, as it will have to do for other future built is as robust as possible and the study releases, through the marketing campaign. does throw up a number of potentially significant pointers to the potential of A second, and important point to note, day-and-date releases. is that the data available for assessing the performance on VOD platforms was weak, certainly in comparison with the information on theatrical release. Sky remains unwilling to offer much data, while the greater cooperation from iTunes was restricted to sales and revenues. 5 6 SECTION TWO: Among the influences on the strategy were: PLANNING AND s4HEWELL PUBLICISEDGLUTOF(OLLYWOOD blockbusters restricting multiplex access. EXECUTION What Maisie Knew opened alongside sci-fi epic Elysium, comedy We’re The Millers, fantasy adaptation film The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones and Jurassic Park On paper, What Maisie Knew, seemed to 3D. Pixar’s Planes, Two Guns and Kick-Ass 2 have potential for theatrical box office were also on their second week success with any experimentation with release strategy. s4HERELATIVELYPOORPERFORMANCEOFTHE film in the US The film is a classic story-driven arthouse film, starring one of the greats s'REATERCONFIDENCEINDAY AND DATE of independent cinema, Julianne Moore, releasing, gained through the release a UK star Steve Coogan, whose comedy earlier in the summer of A Late Quartet Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa had opened just (also supported by funding from the BFI) two weeks earlier to strong reviews; and another star, Alexander Skarsgard, with a s#URZONSOWNLONG TERMCOMMITMENTTO following through the TV series True Blood new release patterns, notably with the and films including Melancholia. launch of its own VOD service, Curzon Home Cinema It was also released over the August Bank Holiday, which in recent years has seen The opportunity to test their hypothesis some counter-programming success stories about the release with the support from up against the late summer Hollywood the BFI was also an influence. tentpoles (See Section Three). While the film had achieved only 2.1 Marketing strategy modest results in the US, it had enjoyed good reviews and at least built some Curzon already had one strong precedent market recognition. for the day-and-date release of What Maisie Knew – A Late Quartet – which was released Inevitably the day-and-date release meant in April 2013. that a significant number of cinemas would refuse to show the film, which would The earlier release had shown the restrict theatrical revenues.