It's the movie Warner Bros. didn't want to distribute. And now everybody else wishes they had a piece of "Slumdog Millionaire."
The Internet is filled with Oscar-obsessed pundits preoccupied by the tiniest bits of awards trivia and Academy Award prognostications. But when discussing the merits of the upcoming slate of contending movies, little consideration is given to the most important show-business questions of all: Will anybody actually go see these films, and do they have a chance of making money?
Rather than fixate on whether Kate Winslet has a better prize shot with "Revolutionary Road" than "The Reader," we decided to ask a dozen industry insiders a different question: From all of the season's most prominent highbrow titles, which movie do they wish they owned, and which are they glad they don't?
Enviable films: In the Nov. 20 Calendar section, the Word of Mouth column about what films Hollywood executives wish they owned said the budget for Paramount's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was about $175 million. Paramount says rebates from the state of Louisiana and Canada reduced the film's budget to $150 million.
Our panelists -- prominent studio executives, producers and marketers -- weren't allowed to vote for a movie they helped make or distribute. And in the hopes of getting the most candid answers possible, the voters were allowed to speak anonymously, lest a filmmaker never want to work with them again.
The rankings weren't guided solely by a film's prospective box-office gross, but its return on investment, a calculation that includes production costs, marketing expenses and actor-director-producer profit participation. Finally, the list of eligible titles was limited to movies that either have not come out or have only just been released -- in other words, you couldn't ask for a piece of "The Dark Knight." The list of eligible films was "Australia," "Defiance," "Frost/Nixon," "Seven Pounds," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Slumdog Millionaire," "Revolutionary Road," "The Reader," "Doubt," "Milk," "The Wrestler" and "Gran Torino."
The good news first: Fox Searchlight is the envy of the town. All but three panelists said they wished they had a piece of "Slumdog Millionaire," which several voters said could be this year's "Juno": an art-house release that, buoyed by consistently rave reviews and budding award attention, could cross over into the mainstream.
Three panelists said director Danny Boyle's Indian game-show drama could gross $40 million or more -- a robust showing by a film costing about $14 million. Even though "Slumdog Millionaire" is playing in only 10 theaters, its early ticket sales are remarkable, with an average per-screen gross in its Nov. 14 opening weekend of more than $36,000.
- Top-selling and most-rented DVDs and video games Apr 10, 2009
- 'Slumdog Millionaire' overcomes the odds Jan 28, 2009
- 'Slumdog': From mutt to 'Millionaire' Feb 22, 2009
