Spreading the word

So the filmmaker, her mother and several investors released the movie themselves in Florida and Palm Springs. Ticket buyers immediately queued up. "You would walk into delis and people were talking about it," the director says. And they couldn't have been doing that because of advertising, because it was nonexistent." Pretty soon, Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions took notice, and are now slowly releasing the film across the country. To date, "Boynton Beach Club" has sold $1.4 million in tickets, but seems poised to gross much more.

Earlier this year, the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" also benefited from a positive word of mouth, but with a little help from its distributor. The studio's art film arm started the campaign with screenings for theater owners, in an effort not only to build word of mouth but also to show that the film wasn't agitprop.

"Frankly, this is a movie where the less we spent, the better we did," said Paramount Vantage's head Lesher.

Strong word of mouth perpetuates itself.

Warner Independent Pictures launched an intensive word-of-mouth effort in support of last year's "March of the Penguins." As the film's positive reactions mushroomed, Warner Independent crafted new advertisements featuring moviegoers streaming out of the multiplex. "There's nothing like seeing kids coming out of a theater looking excited," says the division's marketing head, Laura Kim. "March of the Penguins" ultimately grossed $77.4 million in domestic theaters.

But perhaps the largest beneficiary of moviegoer recommendations was the 2002 film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which took in $241.4 million domestically.

"If people know your movie is in theaters, word of mouth is great," says "Greek Wedding" producer Gary Goetzman, who traveled the country for months promoting the film. "It always wins."