When Michael Levine saw a private screening of “2016: Obama’s America,” he figured the film would fare about the same as most political documentaries – at the low end of the box office barometer.
But in the eight weeks since he saw the movie, the chief executive at Levine Communications Office in Beverly Hills has been one of the behind-the-scenes guys to help make it the surprise release of the summer.
“We had no idea it would become a hit,” Levine told the Business Journal. “No one did. There was no discernible way to know this film would be as big as it has become.”
According to the website Box Office Mojo, the movie ranked seventh in national box-office for the weekend of Aug. 24-26 with ticket sales of $6.5 million. That figure represents a 423 percent increase from the previous week, mostly because the film’s distribution jumped to 1,091 screens from only 169 the previous week.
“2016: Obama’s America” is written and hosted by conservative intellectual Dinesh D’Souza, who believes President Barack Obama harbors an anti-colonial ideology derived from his Kenyan father Barack Obama Sr. and others who influenced him. As a result, according to the film, Obama is conflicted about the country he now leads. While he loves the country, he is resentful of its power. He has tried to weaken the country militarily and economically, and may intensify those efforts after he wins a second term. The film’s title refers to conditions after re-election.
The task of selling the film fell to two L.A. area companies. MJM Entertainment Group in La Mirada was in charge of marketing, and it concentrated its efforts on reaching people who already disliked Obama. Levine Communications Office handled media outreach to mainstream and liberal media considered hostile or indifferent to the film’s message.
Mark Joseph, president of MJM Entertainment, started the campaign in early 2012 by contacting religious and political groups that would likely support the film. He informed them of its impending release and encouraged group leaders to endorse the movie. He also hired a Washington, D.C. public relations firm to get the movie coverage by sympathetic media outlets such as Fox News and the Washington Times.
“Viewers look for cues from leaders in the community that they respect,” Joseph explained. “Common wisdom in Hollywood is to promote a film with TV, billboards and talk-show appearances a month before the release date. But people in the heartland need more lead time, so we start six months in advance.”
Just before the film was released on July 13, Levine came aboard. He e-mailed press releases and called media outlets but found they had no interest in covering the movie.
To overcome that resistance, Levine and his team leveraged statistics from the base audience to show the movie was a cultural phenomenon. The film launched in a single theater in Houston and grew its distribution every week.
One statistic that Hollywood media follow closely is the average revenue per screen. Last week Box Office Mojo reported that “2016: Obama’s America” had an average per screen revenue of $5,966 – more than any of the other top 25 movies for the week.
Media that have covered the film include the New York Times, Salon.com, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Slate.com, New York Daily News, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Politico and the Washington Post. D’Souza is booked to appear on a future episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” a liberal-leaning political talk show.
“The success of the film was so unexpected they can’t ignore it,” Levine said. “You build from the base, and hopefully the base starts talking about it. If the strategy works, it’s unstoppable.”
Media outlets that covered the movie either declined to comment or did not return calls for this story.
Jerry Digney, president of Hollywood publicity firm Digney & Co., which was not involved with “2016,” said one challenge in approaching unfriendly media outlets is the risk of negative coverage. Major studios usually shy away from it, but in this case it worked in the film’s favor.
“The guys who produced this movie wanted to get a message out there,” Digney said. “Whether they get positive or negative reviews, it gets the message on the table. Now it has a straight shot all the way to November. Whoever is attached to that movie can start booking on talk shows and keep the conversation going.”
Hollywood contrarian
The film had a production budget of $2.5 million and a marketing budget of about $6 million, Joseph said. So far, it has sold $10 million in tickets. During the Labor Day weekend it was scheduled to screen in 1,725 theaters, including in liberal enclaves such as New York City, Boston and San Francisco.
“The market will decide how wide this film goes,” Joseph said. “Theater owners are capitalists. As long as it’s doing well, they’ll keep it.”
A DVD of the film is scheduled for release in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, which ends with the election on Nov. 6.
While the theme of “2016: Obama’s America” may not sit well with many in liberal Hollywood, both Levine and Joseph said they approached the project without regard to their personal politics.
Levine calls himself a political independent and has also handled PR for Michael Moore, the liberal documentary filmmaker. In the coming weeks Joseph will market another DVD titled “A Mormon President” that takes a critical look at Mitt Romney and his religion.
But Joseph believes the lesson of “2016” is that there are alternate audiences for movies that Hollywood ignores. He thinks most people in the heartland of the country are not engaged with movies week-to-week and must plan a trip to the theater in advance.
“If Hollywood changed the way it reached customers, the box-office numbers would be much bigger,” he said. “For a housewife in Cleveland to go to a movie, you’re talking about a $100 commitment between the tickets, dinner, parking and baby-sitter. That’s not a spontaneous decision, which is why I start marketing six months to a year in advance.”
