Film Investment Success: $1.5m into $100m (Saw)
Saw is a famous horror film sequel, I have personally watched Saw I, II and III, I am not a big fan of horror movies, but I have found its production & its legacy quite interesting and would like to share with everyone.
The movie was initially produced by James Wan and Leigh Whannell from Australia, they were writing a short script based for a horror film; citing from their dreams and fears.
They had eventually turned into a 9 ˝ minutes short film with basically no production cost, in fact, Whannell was the star in the short film itself.
Once this was made, they travelled to Lions Gate studios to screen the film which was accepted and Lions Gate Films invested US$1.2 million into production costs.
This had turned out to be probably one of the most successful investments made in history, with gross sales in United States alone over US$55m, and another US$50m outside United States. Needless to mention, this also helped the movie developing into a sequel, with 4 more episodes already made; and more revenue generated from DVD sales, international DVDs, online downloads, video-games..etc.
What are some interesting strategies they have used?
1. Production of a short film, this was what had really sold the film and impressed Lions Gate Film about the potential of this movie.
2. Decided for Direct-to-DVD first, this ensured the production could generate revenue within very short time period and not relying on theatres as it could take months or years to be released into theatres.
3. Online Media Campaign: I also recall significant online media campaign was conducted around 2003 & 2004, it has generated a lot of interest online initially instead of mainstream media
4. International markets: We have seen too many producers and inspiring directors just focus their funding efforts in the local markets; both Wan and Whannell were based in Australia at the time, they had taken the decision to go into global markets to promote themselves; Saw, as we also know made its break-through at Sundance Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.
Horror films, for instance are of particular interests and “demand” in certain markets, sometimes horror films can be more successful in international markets.
The big markets for horror films are United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, France and Spain. It maybe a cultural factor or social factor, but take Japan and Korea as examples; horror films are always top-selling films over there.
We are always looking for interesting film case studies for our Global Film & Entertainment Investors Guide (available from http://researchwhitepaper.com), if you are currently producing an interesting film, then we would like to hear from you.
