Kevin Smith Purchases Red State For $20
Appearing at this year's edition of the Sundance Film Festival, director Kevin Smith was expected to auction the distribution rights to his $4 million horror thriller Red State. In usual Smith style, he had something else in mind.
Reports THR, "Smith had suggested for weeks that he would hold an auction post-screening for rights to his film, but ultimately announced that he would take the movie on the road himself throughout 2011 ahead of a planned Oct. 19 release. He paid himself a token 20 bucks for the privilege, and he hopes that the roadshow will make some of the movie's roughly $4 million budget back.
"'What we need to prove is that anyone can release a movie," Smith said from the Eccles stage as part of a long and profanity-laced speech after the movie ended during which he championed Harvey Weinstein as an inspiration and mentor. "Indie film isn't dead, it just grew up. It is just indie film 2.0 now. In indie film 2.0, we don’t let them sell our movie, we sell our movie ourselves.' The film will go out via Smith's SModcast with no marketing spend, though he said that he will talk to 'any smart exhibitor' about potentially showing the movie. 'We are going to make our money back by going out on the road and going city by city,” said Smith. The tour will begin March 5 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and make a stop at Midland Theater in Kansas City one week later.'
"In his more than 20-minute speech, Smith lambasted movie studios for a system he said is unfair and outdated and too focused on advertising. Smith said that he had never intended to get into the business of the movie industry — noting that he’s simply a 'fat, masturbating stoner' — but the state of the industry essentially forced his hand. 'It’s too much [frick]ing horseshit. I just want to tell [frick]in’ stories,' he said."
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