When Christian Colson of producer Celador Films ("Dirty Pretty Things," "The Descent") first started shopping the $15-million "Slumdog Millionaire" to North American distributors last year before filming commenced, Fox Searchlight wasn't among the most aggressive bidders. Instead, the company determined to grab the film was Warner Independent.
The Warner Independent deal was generous for a movie that was frequently in Hindi and that included scenes of torture -- all with a cast of actors unknown to American moviegoers. In addition to paying $5 million for the film's North American rights, Warner Independent also promised Celador and Boyle a healthy slice of the film's grosses.
But while Boyle was still racing to edit the film, Warner Bros. closed Warner Independent. With several New Line Cinema movies coming into Warners' fall schedule after parent Time Warner shut down New Line, the "Slumdog Millionaire" release date looked uncertain at best.
"You don't know what's going to happen," Colson said. "And that's unnerving."
In late June, Colson brought a rough cut of the film to the Warner lot. "It was clear that they understood that it was a good movie," Colson said. "But it was also clear that they had shut down the infrastructure to release it."
Rather than wash its hands of "Slumdog Millionaire," Warners tried to figure out how it could handle the film without using Warner Independent. The studio asked Bob Berney, the head of Picturehouse, to take a look to see if Picturehouse could be reconstituted to distribute the film. "I really loved it," Berney said. "I think it's his real home run -- it really brings it all together."
But the costs of reassembling Berney's team were prohibitive, especially if "Slumdog Millionaire" wasn't going to come out until early 2009. "They would essentially have to pay everyone double," Berney said, "because we had already fired everybody" and had paid them severance.
Warners allowed Celador, Boyle and Boyle's agent, Endeavor's Robert Newman, to show the film to one -- and only one -- American distributor. After a huddle, Fox Searchlight -- exactly as Rice had anticipated -- received the call.
Just as Warner Bros. was releasing the record-breaking "The Dark Knight," the studio closed a deal to partner with Fox Searchlight for "Slumdog Millionaire's" North American release, with Fox Searchlight marketing and distributing the film, collecting a distribution fee, and splitting costs and revenues with Warners.
