Did Jennifer Aniston and Liam Neeson sink a distributor?

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By Stephen Saito on 12/16/2009

Filed under: Biz

2009 has been a year in which home video companies attempted to make a splash in the theatrical market and wound up doing a belly flop instead. While there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage to Anchor Bay's business from theatrical non-starters like Ashton Kutcher's "Spread" after years of making a mint on DVD re-releases of "The Evil Dead," the venerable Image Entertainment was reported yesterday to be considering filing for bankruptcy.

The recent downturn in the DVD business surely has contributed to the situation, but this could also be because Image, long the distributor of the Criterion Collection and countless indie films on home video, decided to start distributing some of their films theatrically, beginning with the Jennifer Aniston-Steve Zahn odd duck "Management" (released via Samuel Goldwyn) and more recently, the Liam Neeson-Laura Linney thriller "The Other Man," a movie with such a low-profile release this fall that it eluded our "Season of 'Man'-ly Movies" chart.

If there's an obvious trend here, it's that recognizable stars (not of the Steven Seagal variety) are appearing more and more in movies that you first hear of while scrolling through Netflix or strolling through Blockbuster, even if the films received a theatrical release, a point that Alison Willmore and Matt Singer discuss in this week's IFC News podcast.

That plays into the interest of these home video companies who are likely able to sweeten deals with a film's producers by saving face for their stars by throwing in a limited theatrical release to avoid the stigma of having their latest film considered to be "direct-to-DVD." Once the film gets to its final destination, it's bound to stand out on store shelves because of some familiar floating heads. Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges in "The Open Road"? Yep, came out for one week back in August.

But even the smallest theatrical releases come at a cost, as Image has discovered the hard way, and the true losers seem to be the artists who are getting short thrift for taking some chances.

Image mismanaged "Management," which is one of the year's overlooked films, an unusually charming love story in the vein of "Something Wild" that eludes rather than reinforces its easy "quirky comedy" tag. Coincidentally, I rented "Spread" the other night on DVD and, like others, was pleasantly surprised by my appreciation of Kutcher's thoroughly dislikable gigolo at the center of the Los Angeles wonderland created by "Young Adam" director David Mackenzie.

I fear for what will become of the recent Image acquisition "Don McKay," a dark, twisty Thomas Haden Church thriller I saw when it premiered at Tribeca, scheduled to get a theatrical release in April. These films aren't easy sells, and with fewer distributors out there, it's possible more films may not get a release of any kind, let alone theatrical. Especially if Image Entertainment isn't around in the home video business anymore.

[Photos: Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston in "Management," Image Entertainment, 2009; Anne Heche and Ashton Kutcher in "Spread," Anchor Bay Films, 2009]

Tags: Anchor Bay, Ashton Kutcher, distribution, Don McKay, Image Entertainment, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Aniston, Justin Timberlake, Liam Neeson, Management, Spread, The Open Road, The Other Man

adam

Image's management team sunk Image: too much debt and not enough cost control. I might also mention the terrible performance by the board of directors which flubbed every single deal since Lion's Gate offered $4 in 2005/2006.

The Jennifer Aniston film "Management" was very successful on DVD, thanks mostly to the efforts of Redbox. The Image theatrical strategy is specifically tailored to Redbox. Redbox wants high profile names, such as Aniston and Neeson, and a limited theatrical release to generate cache. Once Redbox buys a film, it orders up somewhere between 100,000 and 125,000 copies. Once it's on Redbox, you get follow on sell-thru, broadcast, VOD, etc.

It's a good strategy, but too little, too late. Image needed about $10 million to pay its largest creditor, and couldn't find the money. Game, set, match.

valerie

How stupid this company has more than Jen and Liamm in inventory!!! How stupid to blame these two people. How about the people in control of the company they are to blame just dumb!!!!

Stephen Saito

Adam, your insight is much appreciated and Valerie, I'll admit that the headline was meant to be eye-catching and it's a bit unfair to use Jennifer Anison's "Management" as an example since it's easily Image's most successful theatrical title (or Liam Neeson's "The Other Man," though it grossed a paltry $149K), but elected to do so since you'd probably be even less familiar with "Dare," the last film Image released theatrically in November that grossed $18,000 before being pulled for a DVD release. No doubt it's the company's management team that has put Image in the unfortunate situation they're in, but what I think is a real shame is how these films, not all but some, haven't gotten the treatment they deserve and more and more companies have gotten into the business of picking up movies indiscriminately and figuring out creative ways to dump them. I'd actually love nothing more than for "Management" and other Image titles to find a wide audience, but since Image and others are using little-promoted theatrical runs as merely a driver for their home video revenues, they overlook the fact that they could generate some word of mouth with a solid theatrical release as opposed to a random two-theater, one week release before its eventual DVD release. It may be smart business, but I think it's a raw deal for audiences and filmmakers.

Stephen

There isn't much competition for film festival treasures these days. Image can pick up good ones such as Dare, 44 Inch Chest, Don McCay and The Other Man for next to nothing. The Other Man cost more than $20 million to make, certainly no film student garage project. And, yet, Image is pretty much bankrupt. They haven't got a dime to spend on these movies. There is a tremendous business opportunity as regards the "Redbox strategy", as we have seen, but Image won't be the beneficiary.