Trouble At Apparition

[Buscemi]

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/bob-ber ... with-exit/

Bob Berney has left Apparition after a falling out with co-founder Bill Pohlad. So far, the company has had a list of mild successes (The Boondock Saints II, The Young Victoria) combined with a series of flops (The Runaways, Bright Star, Black Dynamite) and missed opportunities (the rights to distribute Splice and Fair Game domestically). The leaving of Berney has been said to be due to a lack of promotional money spent on some of the releases (this would also explain the cancellation of The Runaways' nationwide expansion along with why The Young Victoria grossed $11 million despite having very average per theatre averages in limited release). The latest reports are that Berney will be going to The Weinstein Company to get Harvey and Bob out of their deep hole.

Also, Bill Pohlad has been trying to shop The Tree Of Life and its companion film. So either it will be out with another company or it will be pushed back to 2011.

[frendo]

I'm not sure I would consider Black Dynamite or The Runaways as flops. Neither were expected to make a bunch of money. Black Dynamite did well in a cult sort of way and the Runaways made a lot of good press for it's performances, which were quite good for both Fanning and Stewart.

[Buscemi]

Black Dynamite had a big cult following before it opened so it was expected by some to be a hit. However the movie was hardly promoted by the studio (this was even after the film went from Sony to Apparition) and most of the film's promotion had to be done by the filmmakers themselves. Also, Apparition does not make any of the film's DVD profits since they sold those rights to Sony (same thing will happen with The Boondock Saints II and The Young Victoria, which are already doing better on DVD than in theatres).

The Runaways had some high expectations in terms of box office (due to the planned wide release but in spite on the general audience indifference when it comes to movies about rock music). Apparition was even banking on the Twilight crowd to cross over and see the film (this was despite Remember Me opening just a week earlier). In the end, that film had its prints and ad budget slashed, the opening weekend was reduced to 200 theatres and the film failed to break even ($3 million gross on a $10 million budget). The film may break even in Japan (the original group has a following there) and on DVD but Apparition won't receive that money.

And the latest on Berney: he may return to Newmarket and get the company back to its The Passion Of The Christ/Monster glory days. Also, Newmarket just signed a DVD deal with Lionsgate (their entire output will be distributed by them) so that helps bring in some money.

[Buscemi]

The latest: Apparition will be restructured with only 40% of its original staff while another Apparition title (Welcome To The Rileys) has changed distributors (Samuel Goldwyn is now distributing that film). Meanwhile, Bob Berney is rumored to go to GK Films and start a distribution arm there.