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After Big Flops, Warner Hopes for ‘Sleeper’ Hit in Smaller Films
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8 — When the romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally” was released in July 1989, it made just $1.1 million during its opening weekend. But Alan F. Horn, whose film company produced the movie, was confident that, given time, it could be a hit.
He was right. The movie earned $93 million at the domestic box office that summer.
“If it was today, the headline in Variety would have been ‘When Harry Met Disaster,’ ” Mr. Horn said in an interview. “They would have killed us after that first weekend and I don’t think we would have had a chance to build that movie. In today’s climate it wouldn’t have had a chance to breathe.”
In 2006, Mr. Horn, who is now president of Warner Brothers Entertainment, may be finding it hard to breathe himself. Last year Warner was the No. 1 studio at the domestic box office, bringing in $1.38 billion by bankrolling big-budget blockbusters like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Batman Begins.” But the same strategy this summer resulted in a string of expensive duds, like “Lady in the Water,” “The Ant Bully” and a remake of the ocean liner disaster film “The Poseidon Adventure” that sank faster than the ship itself.
As a result, Mr. Horn must now hope that one of a cadre of smaller, riskier films, like “The Departed,” “Blood Diamond” and “The Fountain,” will prove to be a sleeper hit like “When Harry Met Sally” and help pull Warner out of its No. 6 spot for the year so far.
Warner’s recent tumble in the studio rankings is a cautionary tale for Hollywood. As the studios begin to shrink their slates and make fewer movies, they are increasing their reliance on the big, expensive extravaganzas. Sometimes they succeed, as “Batman Begins” and the “Harry Potter” movies have for Warner, or as “Pirates of the Caribbean” did for the Walt Disney Company.
But the lackluster results for Warner’s blockbusters this summer show that the large tentpole features, like “Poseidon,” which cost more than $150 million to make but brought in only $60 million domestically, are not sure things, after all. And when they fail, they put more pressure on smaller films to open big.
“A safe bet isn’t safe at all these days. When you saw ‘Poseidon’ on paper, it looked safe. It wasn’t safe at all,” Mr. Horn said. “Is ‘The Departed’ safe? It’s got a great cast. Is ‘Harry Potter’ safe? It’s safe until we blow a movie and then the public will be furious. Categorically, there is no safe movie anymore.”
So far, Mr. Horn said, the summer’s poor showing has not resulted in any additional pressure from Time Warner’s corporate headquarters in New York. The only inquiries he has gotten questioning the studio’s strategy, he said, were from reporters.
But that is not to say that changes are not afoot on the Warner lot. Legendary Pictures, Warner’s financial partner for some of the studio’s most noticeable summer duds, including “Lady in the Water” and the animated “The Ant Bully,” is flexing its might, pressuring Warner to cut marketing costs.
“Our attitude has been, ‘Are we asking ourselves as a group how far we can push the envelope?’ ” asked Thomas Tull, chief executive of Legendary, which has a five-year, $600 million deal with Warner to co-finance and co-produce movies. In particular Mr. Tull has questioned whether Warner should spend as much on billboard and newspaper advertising, particularly in Los Angeles, where ads are sometimes bought just to appease the vanity of movie stars.
“The first thing is acknowledging we should have a discussion,” said Mr. Tull. “It may seem like a paltry $2 million but this is money we need to make up.”
Dawn Taubin, president of domestic marketing for Warner Brothers Pictures, said she met twice monthly with Legendary executives to discuss coming campaigns. “Nobody said, ‘Cut your budget by 10 percent,’ ” she said, adding that all campaigns were scrutinized case by case. “Still, there is always a dialogue about ‘Can you spend less?’ ”
For Warner, the summer got off on the wrong foot, with the release of “Superman Returns.” Since becoming president of production in 2002, Jeff Robinov has successfully paired offbeat directors with mainstream projects. Tim Burton, for instance, was not an obvious choice to direct “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” nor was Johnny Depp an obvious star. Christopher Nolan had never directed a costly event film before “Batman Begins.” And Alfonso Cuarón, the Mexican director of the very adult “Y Tu Mamá También” was a novel pick to direct the third “Harry Potter” released in 2004.
“They are all a little bit different,” Mr. Robinov said of the movies. “But the sensibilities are down the middle.”
By contrast, “Lady in the Water,” the spooky thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and the animated “The Ant Bully,” produced by Tom Hanks, appeared to be conventional choices. “Superman Returns,” too, seemed safe from the start.
Among Warner’s Oscar hopefuls are “Blood Diamond,” above, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and “The Good German,” starring George Clooney.
Expensive flops like “Lady in the Water,” above, and “Superman Returns” have caused Warner to drop to sixth place in box-office receipts.
The director, Bryan Singer, had already proved his mettle in the action comic book genre, having directed the first two “X-Men” movies. There was pent-up interest among fans. Even the film’s star, Brandon Routh, was a look-alike of Christopher Reeve, who embodied Clark Kent more than two decades ago.
But critics complained that the movie was too long and lacked the action necessary to attract its core young male audience. And at a gathering of comic book fans last summer, Mr. Singer complained about the movie’s marketing.
Studio executives say it will make a profit. But in bringing in only $389 million at the worldwide box office, “Superman Returns” failed to live up to prerelease expectations.
“If Superman had done twice what it did, the whole summer would have looked different,” said Mr. Robinov. “It’s as much about perception as reality. Even with the failure of a movie like ‘Poseidon,’ we’ve had much smaller movies we’ve lost as much on.”
Mr. Horn agreed. “I’ve seen movies that cost $15 million lose as much as $20 million,” he said. “But when event movies don’t perform well, it is very high profile.”
Mr. Horn said Warner Brothers had no plans to alter its strategy. Other studios have entered the franchise film business, he said, suggesting that Warner’s decision was a sound one. Still, Warner will make fewer movies in the future — between 18 and 22 films a year — and will focus even more on blockbusters with worldwide appeal. (Think more “Harry Potter,” less “Beerfest.”)
“This is an aircraft carrier, not a riverboat,” said Mr. Horn.
Still Mr. Horn is more than happy to leave the summer behind him. And, in a welcome twist, early Oscar buzz is already swirling around two Warner movies, “The Departed,” a crime boss thriller directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, and “Blood Diamond,” also featuring Mr. DiCaprio.
“I don’t think they are obviously commercial films but I believe they are really good films,” said Mr. Robinov.
Some critics have called “The Departed” Mr. Scorsese’s best movie in years, outshining “Gangs of New York” and 2004’s “The Aviator.” “Blood Diamond,” a thriller about the diamond trade, set in Sierra Leone in the 1990’s, also is seen as promising, largely because of Mr. DiCaprio’s performance. Both, though, are blood-soaked and violent, which limits the audience.
Of Warner’s other Oscar hopefuls, it is hard to predict. George Clooney, usually a favorite with audiences, will star in “The Good German,” a black-and-white film directed by his former producing partner Steven Soderbergh. “The Fountain,” directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Hugh Jackman, is so far getting mixed reviews from those who have seen it.
The critical raves for “The Departed” have Mr. Horn cautiously optimistic. “Because it’s so unique it might get to a place where it as commercial as it can be,” said Mr. Horn.
“The Departed” brought in $27 million at the domestic box office this weekend, Mr. Scorsese’s best opening ever, and a good start. No doubt to Warner’s relief, it was better than the debut of “When Harry Met Sally.”
