Things changed appreciably for director-writer Guy Ritchie during the filming of his recent release “Snatch” and not just because he married Madonna.
Ritchie says filming “Snatch” (a diamond-heist caper rife with English sub-culture types) was easier than his first film in 1998, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”
“I was always nervous and never knew from day to day if I was going to have the money ($3 million to $4 million) to finish the film. I didn’t sleep and was up every night talking to America,” he says.
But this time thanks to some of Ritchie’s deep-pocketed pals including L.A. restaurateur Peter Morton, producer Steve Tisch, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler and Joe Roth, president of Revolution Studios Ritchie knew he had the $8 million or so to make “Snatch.”
Currently, Ritchie is penning his next film called “The Mole,” which tackles the subject of Islam and the brutality between the Turks and the Christians, featuring a cameo by Madonna.
The revenues generated by “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” hit $3.7 million domestically, according to Alan Roberts at Reel Source Inc., and 10 times that amount in England.
So Ritchie has proven himself on smaller films, but can he swim in the mainstream of Hollywood?
“If he tries to break out of the smaller films into a larger film with a budget of $30 million to $60 million-plus and he doesn’t do well, that will be his only shot with a major studio,” says Roberts. “Studios are willing to play around with a $3 million-to-$10 million budget, but they won’t gamble a second time if the first one is a failure at the box office.”
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Jackie Chan can thank producer Arthur Sarkissian for making him and Chris Tucker household names, as can hotshot director Brett Ratner. Their big 1998 hit “Rush Hour” is currently filming an $80 million sequel.
“Jackie wasn’t well known here at all before ‘Rush Hour,'” says Sarkissian. “His movies were grossing, at the most, $20 million worldwide.”
When Sarkissian was brought a script about an Asian cop and American cop fighting bad guys together, he says, “I liked the concept and saw it as a great buddy-action film..”
Sarkissian brought it to Disney’s Hollywood Pictures with Chan attached, but it went into turnaround because Disney didn’t see Jackie’s prior box-office numbers warranting a $30 million budget.
Then, Sarkissian’s old friends at New Line Cinema CEO Robert Shaye and President of Development Michael DeLuca talked to Jay Stern, vice president of development, who quickly pushed it through. Ultimately, “Rush Hour,” with a $33 million budget, grossed about $260 million at the worldwide theatrical box office, including ancillary revenues.
“We are expecting this one to do even better,” says Sarkissian.
Contributing reporter Anita Talbert can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
