Groundbreaking Movie Milestones

Memento

March 16, 2001 Newmarket Film Group $25,544,867 Domestic Box Office After nearly every other studio passed on it, Bob saw the promise and path to a successful release. This crossover indie broke out reaching $25M domestic box office and launched filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s career.

Y Tu Mama Tambien

March 15, 2002 IFC $13,649,880 Domestic Box Office Alfonso Cuaron’s early passion project is the 5th Highest grossing Spanish Language movie of all time and launched the careers of Gael Bernal Garcia and Diego Luna. The film was not MPAA rated, allowing exhibitors to decide for themselves about the sexual content.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

April 19, 2002 IFC $241,438, 181 Domestic Box Office The highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time was also one of the longest-running theatrical engagements in history spanning an entire year. The release relied heavily on galvanizing group sales and guerilla marketing techniques to generate huge word of mouth.

The Passion Of The Christ

Feb. 25, 2004 Newmarket Films $370,274,604 Domestic Box Office The highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, this groundbreaking independent film was released on 4700 screens with a staff of 25 people (compared to 400+ in a traditional studio). The film proved there was a commercial business for faith stories.

Pan’s Laybrinth

Dec. 29, 2006 Picturehouse $37,634,615 Domestic Box Office Bob’s first big hit for Picturehouse launched the auteur side of Guillermo Del Toro. The team overcame positioning challenges and expanded the audience to include young fan boys. One of the first movies sold to Netflix by a theatrical distributor, resulted in one of Netflix’s first big hits.

Monster

Dec. 24, 2003 Newmarket Films $34,469,210 Domestic Box Office Patty Jenkins' feature film directorial and screenwriting debut, Bob rolled the dice with a bold move to counter program a lesbian serial killer movie on Christmas Eve. Paved the way for Christmas Eve counterprogamming to follow and won Charlize Theron the best actress award.

Insidious

April 1, 2011 FilmDistrict $54,009,149 Domestic Box Office The most profitable film of 2011 launched a huge franchise and the directing and horror impressio career of James Wan. Acquired at TIFF’s prestigious Midnight Film Series, FilmDistrict gave the filmmakers the opportunity to reshape the ending which turned the movie around.

Drive

Sept. 16, 2011 FilmDistrict $35,060,689 Domestic Box Office This iconoclastic and quirky film was a wide release risk worth taking due to Ryan Gosling’s breakout role and a cast of great actors including Albert Brooks as a bad guy. The movie defined the Elevated Genre Category, especially with Nicolas Refn’s Best Director win at Cannes.

Manchester By The Sea

Nov. 18, 2016 Amazon Studios/Roadside $47,695,371 Domestic Box Office Gamechanger, shepherding in the era of the streamers by winning the first ever Oscar for Best Best Actor, Casey Affleck and for Best Original Screenplay, Kenneth Lonergan. The movie was a crossover hit in North America, defying predictions and winning 637 awards.

Chi-Raq

December 4, 2015 Amazon Studio Amazon Studios first feature film production was one of the first films to have a shortened theatrical window. Released on 305 screens domestically a mere 25 days before its streaming premiere versus the 90-day norm.

The Big Sick

June 23, 2017 Amazon Studios/Lionsgate $42,872,467 Overlooked by the big studios because of its un-Hollywood casting, Judd Apatow’s broadly appealing film became a sleeper success. Aggressively promoting Kumail Nanjiani, the first Pakastani-born actor in a leading role in a Romantic Comedy, proved audience appeal beyond standard archetypes.

Fatima

A re-imagined campaign due to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic resulted in breaking new ground by releasing PVOD+Theatrical, making it one of the most successful films of 2020. Pioneered Pop-up Drive-in events in iconic locations to generate word-of-mouth paving the way for many other studios to follow.