Talk about a surprising turn of events. Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” — a feature length version of the awesome “Grindhouse” trailer — will be distributed by Fox in North America. The studio paid a cool $9 million for the rights after a bidding war late on Friday.
Why is this distribution deal news? Well, the financially strapped Weinstein Company had a first look deal on the table for the film. Rodriguez has had a long, and largely lucrative, relationship with Weinsteins, by making low budget, high profit pictures for them. A representative for the studio claims that they could’ve had the film for as low $3.5 million but said the footage they saw was “not very good at all.” Nikke Finke notes that it sounds like sour grapes, and we would have to agree. $3.5 million is peanuts and it would take the film tanking horribly not to make back the investment in its theatrical run. Undoubtedly, the cash-strapped studio, who are already starting to dump shelved films on DVD (“Hurricane Season”), and push back release dates for scheduled pictures (“Piranha 3D”), just couldn’t come up with the cash to put in a serious bid. Even if they had $3.5 million for the supposed price they could’ve paid, we seriously doubt they would have the financial ability to market the film.
As for Sony, who purchased a good chunk of the international rights to the film to help finance the production, they balked (as did Paramount) when Rodriguez’s team asked for higher back-end percentages and a production deal (which is unusual in territory rights negotiations). Fox, who are already behind Rodriguez’s forthcoming “Predators,” (which he wrote and produced) found a middle ground and the director signed his name.
So what does this mean for Rodriguez’s forthcoming slate of films? In December we ran them down, but considering the Weinsteins can’t find $3.5 million to acquire a film that easily make that money back, where are they going to find money to finance new projects? We will be very surprised if “Spy Kids 4” (supposed to start shooting in March or April) or the supposed “secret fall 2010” project get green lights. With Rodriguez fast becoming buddies with the suits over on the Fox lot, he may see what can be done to bring some of his gestating projects over there.
Oh yeah, as for that April 16th release date that’s still sticking on IMDB? Don’t count on it. The film is currently in editing, and with “Kick Ass” already set to take money out of fanboy wallets that weekend, Fox would be foolish to try and go up against that film. We’re guessing a late September or early October release is more likely.
hmmm, it seems that there are already more distribution deals at Sundance than last year.
Any news/rumors regarding the film "Blue Valentine"? Nikke Finke had a teaser about distributors being "sparked," but no specifics. Sharon Waxman wrote yesterday that she would write up something, but so far nothing and now her site is down. I've read only one review, which was highly complementary, but otherwise have heard nothing.