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Channing Tatum vs. Ryan Reynolds At Box Office; ‘Hitman’s Bodyguard’ Eyes No. UPDATE, Saturday AM Writethru after 1. AM post: Two distributors, Bleecker Street and Lionsgate, observed ahead of time that August wasn’t going to be dominated by any particular tentpole like last year’s Suicide Squad.

And given how difficult it is to slot low- to- mid budget fare on the calendar in the teeth of summer, both distributors took advantage of the opportunity to go wide with their star- studded fare before the season truly shuts down. Lionsgate. However, the bigger kid on the block, Lionsgate, has bragging rights this weekend with Ryan Reynolds- Samuel L. Jackson’s Midnight Run- like comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard hitting No. M opening at 3,3. The Dark Tower ($1. M) and Atomic Blonde ($1. M). Hitman easily zooms ahead of Steven Soderbergh’s Channing Tatum- Daniel Craig ensemble heist movie Logan Lucky which is running out of gas in fourth with $7.

M at 3,0. 31 theaters. A wide release like Logan Lucky with a commercial cast, fun vibes and awesome reviews at 9. Logan Lucky‘s estimated $2. M production cost and $2. M P& A was largely funded by foreign pre- sales plus partners like Amazon who took streaming rights. Soderbergh’s m. o. The end goal was for the filmmakers and talent to reap the rewards.

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Typically, with a standard studio release, the studio fat cats recoup their money first. In the run- up to Logan Lucky’s opening, the media has gone wild declaring how this means of making a movie is a game- changer, when in fact, it’s more of a noble pursuit and risk mitigation. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, in fact it’s the type of smart film financing that the pre- sales independent world was designed to be, and in Logan Lucky‘s case I hear from insiders that they even raised more than their production cost in foreign sales.

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Some rivals this morning do not believe that; they say it’s unheard of for a movie to raise more than 7. Logan Lucky will cruise into the red zone. But let’s call Logan Lucky for what it is: Experiment is an exaggerated word.

In today’s world, a low budget film with a high upside where the director has great creative control, that’s essentially called Blumhouse. Actors working for scale in hopes of a bigger payday at the end, those types of deals occurred on Blumhouse’s $4. M Jennifer Lopez thriller The Boy Next Door (which grossed $5. M worldwide). But you have to make money, to make money. Magnolia. Juxtapose Logan Lucky with Soderbergh’s 2. Bubble, and, yes, the filmmaker can be credited there for starting a distribution revolution with that title. Even though the $1.

M budgeted Bubble didn’t send shockwaves out at the domestic B. O. ($1. 45. K), it was the pioneer for a day- and- date simultaneous release strategy where an independent film was available in both theaters and the home on opening weekend.

The words experiment, revolution and game- changer definitely apply to Soderbergh’s Bubble because it’s the business model that many distributors are still using 1. In addition, day- and- date has enabled independent films to be seen by a wider audience, versus a lumbering theatrical platform where these types of titles are delivered to small towns months later, or worse, never. True, a film director calling the absolute shots on the marketing of his own film is rare, but on the same note, industry players like Michael Bay and Tom Cruise have plenty of weight when it comes to the positioning of their movies in the marketplace. But then there’s another side of the coin, and that’s where Soderbergh is coming from: When studios get sour tracking on their hands, they can leverage that against the film. They’re not going to throw good money after bad if they see a film is destined to die. Successful movies are made when a studio’s marketing department is in sync with a filmmaker’s goals and art (read, Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk which will near $1. M by Sunday). Essentially, that’s what was going on between Soderbergh and Bleecker Street: Being on the same page in regards to Logan Lucky‘s positioning which included a heavy promotion in the NASCAR country of the South and the Midwest. Furthermore, we also hear that Soderbergh agreed with a number of Bleecker’s suggestions.

Aviron. A bulk of Logan Lucky‘s marketing dollars were spent in the last week, versus at the onset when the film arrived on tracking. Again, nothing radical there. Aviron did this two weeks ago with Kidnap which opened to $1. M and should clear $2. M by Sunday. Their P& A during opening weekend was in the teens, just under what was spent here on Logan Lucky. In general to open any title on north of 2,0. Seventeen And Missing Full Movie.

M- $2. 0M in order to make any kind of presence on the B. O. chart. So if Logan Lucky succeeded with a double- digit opening, what would it have revolutionized? Not much as there’s been plenty of low- budget movies with low marketing costs (a majority fueled by digital which is cheap) before it.

And whenever a studio such as Universal knows that they’re sitting on something great like a Get Out, they have to spend more than the average amount of P& A for a microbudget release to get to a $3. M opening; they’ll throw good money after good money. Elections nor No.

If Logan Lucky won, would it mean that more filmmakers would get to control their marketing budgets? Maybe a trend would be started where distributors of low budget films give auteurs such power, however, some artists have no patience or time for business.

They just want to make their movie, hope it’s well received, get their next project funded and move on. One thing that was arguably different on Logan Lucky, and which could be the means by which filmmakers and distributors do business going forward, was its rent- a- system deal with Bleecker Street.

The distributor wasn’t paid a fixed distribution fee of 8%- 1. As the film grosses more and hits certain thresholds, the distribution fee becomes higher. If the pic settles at a certain low B. O. level, then they receive a minimum fee. That’s interesting. Tmobile. But in all fairness to Logan Lucky, there was nothing wrong with how the production was financially set- up.

It was very wise. However, on the next Soderbergh go- round like this, perhaps it pays to raise more P& A, and, yes, get out there much earlier and potentially position the film better. Watch Savannah 4Shared there. Lionsgate spent $3.

M to launch Hitman’s Bodyguard whereas team Soderbergh spent $2. M to open Logan Lucky. Lionsgate screened Hitman’s Bodyguard to exhibitors at Cinema.