Wes Anderson’s latest film was initially released in just four theaters – two in LA and two in NYC. The popular auteur’s summer-grower quickly broke the record for largest-per-theater North American gross for a live action film.
Though MIB 3, Marvel’s The Avengers and Snow White and the Huntsman may have dominated the summer box office in overall gross, smaller pictures have the opportunity to build into wider release and benefit from a more geographically-concentrated use of marketing dollars. This platform release strategy is proving to be highly effective for Focus Features’ Moonrise Kingdom. Indeed, the volume of clicks for the search terms “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Wes Anderson” in the Los Angeles designated marketing area (DMA) are more than 5 times larger than for the online population as a whole. Whereas relevant searches began to climb in LA in March, “Moonrise Kingdom” searches for the online population kicked off just before Memorial Day weekend and are beginning to rise.
This summer will bring numerous pictures employing the limited release strategy, including Safety Not Guaranteed (Mark Duplass and Aubrey Plaza), Lola Versus (Greta Gerwig), Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love and French indie hit The Intouchables. If the volume of searches which occurred during the Italian release of Allen’s latest offering are any indication, To Rome with Love is likely to garner strong US interest, despite mixed reviews abroad.