For months, I have been hearing buzz about a film called Attack the Block that involves a group of working-class teenagers in south London taking up arms against alien invaders. The film has been a massive hit on the festival circuit, winning audience awards at the South by Southwest and LA Film festivals. Critical consensus has been overwhelmingly positive (as of right now, the film has an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and the film is produced by Edgar Wright, the director of the cult hits Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and he has turned over the directorial reins to his friend, first-time writer-director Joe Cornish. The film also stars one of the breakout actors from those two films, Nick Frost, and features a cast of up-and coming young actors as the teenagers. Yet the film has only been released in 7 theaters in 6 cities nationwide (in Austin, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle) and in nearly two weeks, it will open in Philadelphia after fans decided on Facebook where the film should premiere next. For a film with this strong of a premise and this strong of a word of mouth, the studio should be trying to squeeze a profit out of this film. It only cost $15 million to make, so even if they make a mild marketing push and release it in about 1,500-2,000 theaters, with the great word of mouth that it’s getting, Attack the Block could easily turn a profit for them.
The film that signals the possible success for Attack the Block is J.J. Abrams’ nostalgia-fest, Super 8. It’s about a group of kids (portrayed by unknown young actors) trying to survive an alien attack, and possesses strong action and comedic elements. It was made for a relatively modest sum for a major studio production (around $50 million) and due to strong word of mouth from critics and audiences, the film went on to gross well over 100 million dollars and become one of the most beloved films of the summer. Attack the Block shares so many positive attributes with Super 8 on the surface that it seems criminal that the film cannot be seen by more people like me nationwide. I have a couple of ideas why Attack the Block might be having trouble reaching a wider audience and reasons why those arguments do not hold water.
It’s British
It is incredibly rare for a film that was not financed stateside to make money here (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The King’s Speech proved to be the overwhelming exceptions), so even though the film is in English, the fact that it was not backed by any American studio from the beginning makes it difficult to see Attack the Block making a profit in this country. For some reason heretofore unknown to me, the mass American movie-going audience seems averse to foreign-made films. Subtitles are a distraction from the film itself and cultural differences can get lost in translation. Even when characters with foreign accents are speaking in English, many Americans (even ones that I know) complain that they cannot understand what the actors are saying so they decide to ignore the film and go watch the next Michael Bay movie instead. To those people, I say, what a load of poppycock. As several of last year’s Best Picture nominees can attest, a strong and engaging premise can make up for lack of major studio clout and lead to financial success if enough people can get behind it. From what I have heard, many critics are wholly behind this film, and the strong per-screen averages on the theaters it has been released in so far signals that Attack the Block can succeed if the right people are willing to put it out there for more people to see. Just because the characters talk in funny accents does not mean that the film does not have commercial potential. Again, it will not take much for this small-budget film to make money. Just put it out in more of the major metropolitan areas and watch the money roll in. Trust me.
Another Alien Invasion Movie?
In the past year alone, the following movies about alien invasions have been had wide theatrical releases in the United States: Skyline, Battle: Los Angeles, Paul, Super 8, Transformers 3, and most recently Cowboys and Aliens. That doesn’t even include two other upcoming alien invasion films: The Darkest Hour in December, and Battleship (yes, it’s based on the freaking board game) next summer. Trying to add another similarly themed film into the mix when the genre seems to be wearing thin with moviegoers does not seem to be the best idea for someone looking to make a profit. However, to reemphasize what I have already said, if critical consensus on a film is positive and word of mouth from advance screenings is strong, then a film can reach a large audience successfully. Even though Attack the Block is another entry in a genre that is starting to get beaten to death, it stands out because of its super-low budget, uniquely British sensibilities and, like Super 8, the film apparently pays homage to some of its sci-fi predecessors in an affectionate manner.
In the end, I’m mainly bitter that this film is not coming to the Twin Cities anytime soon, and I just decided to vent my frustrations about that by contemplating why I can’t see this awesome-looking film, especially in the wake of my great disappointment with Cowboys and Aliens. In the meantime, I’ll just have to live off Netflix until Drive comes out on September 16th.
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