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ThinkFilm Puts Specialty Box Office Into a Half Nelson.

When Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden chatted with distributors at Sundance, they were confused. "All the acquisition people were saying it was their favorite movie at the festival," explains Fleck, "but they also said they had no idea how to sell it."

By "sell it," those acquisition executives were talking about two problems. There's the question of how you market a subtle film about a crack-addicted teacher who strikes up a unique relationship with a student who discovers his drug use. But this is also challenging material for a specialty distributor to justify to its powerful parent company. After all, Miramax answers to Disney, Paramount Classics answers to Paramount, and so on.

Thankfully, there are still some truly independent specialty distributors who will step up to support a truly independent film. ThinkFilm acquired Half Nelson at Sundance, and they were rewarded with a $26,000 per screen average this past weekend on two screens in New York. The film will expand on August 25th and again on September 1st.

The release of Half Nelson is the culmination of a long journey for co-writer/director Ryan Fleck and co-writer/editor Anna Boden. The couple met in 1999 while he was an undergrad at NYU and she was enrolled in Columbia's film program. He had his first success with his NYU thesis short Struggle which won a spot in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. At that point, they decided to collaborate. The result was the critically-acclaimed doc Have You Seen This Man?, which had a successful run on the festival circuit before premiering on PBS.

Then came the screenplay for Half Nelson. "We are film fans," Fleck tells me, "and we are fans of the oddball friendship movies of the '70s like Harold & Maude and The Last Detail." The lead characters in Half Nelson are certainly every bit as complex as the offbeat buddy-films of that era. Dan Dunne, played by Ryan Gosling, is an idealistic yet crack-addicted teacher and coach while his student Drey, portrayed deftly by Shareeka Epps, is a wise-beyond-her-years teen who is attempting to resist the world of drugs. When the script was complete, the fresh-from-college couple had neither the resources nor the connections to mount their first narrative feature.

So they created a short based on Half Nelson. They believed that a completed short along with the finished screenplay might win them the attention of the right agent or producer. Gowanus, Brooklyn was born. Shot on video and crewed by friends, it boiled the Half Nelson story down to the Drey character, and how she reacts when she stumbles upon her favorite teacher smoking crack. The short won the Grand Jury Prize for short filmmaking at Sundance in 2004.

This path to a career breakthrough is not unprecedented. Billy Bob Thornton's short Some Folks Call It A Slingblade became the Academy Award-winning feature Slingblade, and, more recently, Peter Sollett's short, Five Feet High & Rising, was adapted as the 2002 indie feature hit Raising Victor Vargas.

The success of Gowanus, Brooklyn led to an agent, which led to the right producers, and soon they received a greenlight to make their first narrative feature. When it came to casting, Ryan Gosling wasn't on their list. "We were thinking Mark Ruffalo – someone older," say Fleck, "but a casting director sent the script to Ryan's manager. He got a hold of it and liked it." Fleck and Boden looked at some of his other films and began to see him in the role.

Gosling is best known for his work opposite Rachel McAdams in Nick Cassavettes' The Notebook. He was also especially impressive in The Believer, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2001, and in the underrated Murder By Numbers in which he played an ingenious killer who attempts to outsmart a detective by teaming with a far less ingenious friend (played brilliantly by Michael Pitt). Half Nelson is Gosling's best performance to-date, and he is deserving of all of the accolades he is receiving. For my money, he joins his former co-star Michael Pitt on a very short list of the best actors of their generation.

No spoiler here, but for those looking for a pat, happy ending, Half Nelson doesn't deliver. Fleck and Boden are self-described "film geeks", and they were raised on the classic American films of the late '60s and early '70s where nary a happy ending was to be found. But, this film is part of a larger thematic trend.

In an increasingly fragmented and technology-driven world, people have become desperate to connect in intimate, yet non-sexual, ways. In a sense, those offbeat friendship movies that served as the model for Half Nelson have made a quiet comeback. The Station Agent, Lost In Translation, Million Dollar Baby, Finding Neverland, Sideways and even Seabiscuit are, at their core, movies about people who are alone and trying to connect. In the absence of traditional romances, they find what they need in mismatched friendships and unorthodox alliances.

Fleck and Boden intend to continue their creative (and romantic) collaboration. "It's really good – so far," says Fleck. Living and working together on Half Nelson presented no real problems, "Nobody understands me and understands the characters like she does. It's hard to navigate a film alone. If you have someone that you trust more than anybody else, it helps."

Their next project is adapting a popular book Fleck declined to name for Paramount. It's geared for young adults, and he describes it as a "dramedy". As for working with a major like Paramount, he says, "I've heard all of the horror stories about indie guys working with studios," but so far, he reports no trouble.

Fleck is discouraged about the state of independent film, "At Sundance, films are just not selling like they used to. There are so many great indie films, but they're not getting deals. Filmmakers are being forced to self-distribute." He's thankful for companies like ThinkFilm that "don't answer to anybody."

He admits that he and Boden have been "sucked into" the world of box office results and per screen averages. They've never had a feature film before, but they realize that these mechanics of distribution are the way that Half Nelson will reach the widest possible audience.

It's a small, special gem - subtle in its convictions, resisting a Hollywood ending and committed to the complexity of its characters. It's a showcase for rising star Gosling, and, most of all, it's the start for a pair of promising young filmmakers, Fleck and Boden, who I am certain will continue to chart a creative and, truly independent, course.

Half Nelson – By The Numbers

Top 5 Ryan Gosling Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Remember the Titans - $115,654,000
2. The Notebook - $81,001,000
3. Murder By Numbers - $31,945,000
4. Stay - $3,626,000
5. The Believer - $416,925

Top 5 All-Time ThinkFilm Releases - Domestic Box Office
1. The Aristocrats - $6,377,000
2. Spellbound - $5,728,000
3. The Gospel of John - $4,069,000
4. Born Into Brothels – $3,515,000
5. Strangers With Candy - $1,913,000

You can't bring liquids onboard, but this weekend there are Snakes on a Plane.

Are you looking forward to SoaP? That's what legions of online enthusiasts have taken to calling New Line's Snakes On A Plane.

The online buzz (or maybe that's a hiss) probably began with a blog entry from screenwriter Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) on August 17, 2005. He describes Snakes On A Plane as the "Everlasting Gobstopper of movie titles" because "It's a title. It's a concept. It's a poster and a logline and whatever else you need it to be."

At one point Friedman spoke to New Line about re-writing the script, He blogs that he doesn't want to give away any of the plot details, "But know this. As the great Sam Jackson would say: There are motherfucking snakes on the motherfucking plane.

SoaP had kicked around New Line for a few years. It was shelved after September 11th because depicting reptiles on airplanes seemed highly inappropriate. When the project was resurrected, studio execs briefly toyed with renaming the film Pacific Air Flight 121. When news of the potential title change broke online, all hell broke out among devotees.

New Line recognized that Snakes On A Plane was already coiled for cult status and box office gold. They essentially got out of the way. Homegrown Web sites were born, bloggers had a field day and everyone seemed to have an opinion about what they hoped the movie would be. In fact, director David R. Ellis commenced with re-shoots. More violence, more over-the-top fkin' language and the film jumped from a PG-13 to an R rating. The consumer has actually shaped the message.

Snakes on a Plane is not screening for critics. It really doesn't matter. This movie is absolutely critic-proof, and, New Line has gotten a major assist from the Internet – even if they stumbled on the help unwittingly. This isn't like Blair Witch Project where filmmakers used the Web to build awareness for the movie. This was a community that came together - hungry for violence and camp and a certain sense of humor - that has played an organic role in making a summer blockbuster.

When SoaP wins the weekend, it will be the fourth weekend winner of 2006 that was not screened for critics, joining When a Stranger Calls, Madea's Family Reunion and Underworld: Evolution. Look for Snakes on a Plane to score between $39-$42 million.

Snakes On A Plane – By The Numbers

Top 5 Samuel L. Jackson Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace - $431,088,000
2. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith - $380,270,000
3. Jurassic Park - $357,067,000
4. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones - $302,191,000
5. The Incredibles - $261,441,000

Top 5 All-Time Airplane Movies – Domestic Box Office
1. Top Gun - $176,786,000
2. Air Force One - $172,956,000
3. The Aviator - $102,610,000
4. Con Air - $101,117,000
5. Airport - $100,489,000

Universal's Accepted will hit multiplexes this weekend (2,700 locations) with no real pedigree. Steve Pink makes his directorial debut after writing a pair of solid screenplays, High Fidelity and Grosse Point Blank, but he doesn't have a single recognizable name in his cast (with the exceptions of the always good Anthony Heald and comic Lewis Black in supporting roles). Predictably, negative reviews are coming in, but the Under-25 Males who will see the film don't read the New York Times. Unfortunately, Snakes On A Plane will steal many of those young males, diminishing any upside. Accepted should matriculate this weekend with a modest $12-$15 million.

Accepted By The Numbers

Top 5 All-Time Movies Set On College Campuses – Domestic Box Office
1. A Beautiful Mind - $170,742,000
2. Animal House - $141,600,000
3. Good Will Hunting - $138,433,000
4. The Nutty Professor - $128,814,000
5. The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps - $123,309,000

Hilary Duff and her older, less famous sister, Haylie Duff, play wealthy cosmetics heiresses who suddenly lose their fortune in Martha Coolidge's Material Girls (MGM), debuting on just over 1,500 screens this weekend.

The younger, more successful Duff has real box office appeal helping to lift fairly pedestrian films like The Lizzie McGuire Movie and A Cinderella Story into the $40-$50 million dollar range, and she has the help of Anjelica Huston in a supporting role. Coolidge, however, has never lived up to the promise of Valley Girl, and despite raves and recognition for Rambling Rose, her top box office hit, 1997's Out to Sea, was a warmed-over Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau teaming. Additionally, MGM's new distribution team is only now settling in (a combination of fired Paramount personnel and a few key players from The Weinstein Company), and I don't sense they are ready to "hit one out of the park."

With tracking figures that barely register among females, Under and Over 25, prospects are dim here. Material Girls will register a meager $5-$8 million.

Material Girls – By The Numbers

Top 5 Hilary Duff Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Cheaper by the Dozen - $138,614,000
2. Cheaper by the Dozen 2 - $82,571,000
3. A Cinderella Story - $51,438,000
4. Agent Cody Banks - $47,938,000
5. The Lizzie McGuire Movie - $42,734,000

Top 5 Anjelica Huston Films - Domestic Box Office
1. The Addams Family - $113,502,000
2. Daddy Day Care - $104,297,000
3. The Royal Tenenbaums - $52,364,000
4. Addams Family Values - $48,919,000
5. Prizzi's Honor - $26,657,000

Top 5 Martha Coolidge-directed Films - Domestic Box Office
1. Out to Sea - $29,022,000
2. Valley Girl - $17,343,000
3. Real Genius - $12,952,000
4. Angie - $9,398,000
5. Lost In Yonkers - $9,285,000

Also this weekend, Little Miss Sunshine (Fox Searchlight) will expand to just under 700 screens, and I am taking a flyer on this Sundance Winner cracking the top five. I'm a huge fan, and this film has the potential to do Sideways-type business ($71 million). Read more about Little Miss Sunshine, including an interview with co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, in my July 27th column. I say this gem holds up well with this expansion and $6-$8 million is possible.

One other specialty film of note is The Illusionist (Yari Film Group/Freestyle Releasing). The distribution plan has changed for this film. It will bow on 40 or so screens this weekend instead of its original plan calling for a wide August release. With a cast that includes Oscar nominee Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti and reviews ranging from very good to spectacular, this character-driven suspense-mystery yarn will turn in a strong per screen average. If Freestyle plays its cards right, it will have an art house smash on its hands.

Here are the weekend projections from your humble columnist and theatre-owner:

August 18-20
1. Snakes On A Plane - $41 million
2. Accepted - $13 million
3. World Trade Center - $12 million
4. Talladega Nights - $11 million
5. Step Up - $8 million
*Little Miss Sunshine - $7 million
*Material Girls - $6 million