Post-Mortem: Why Young Guys Didnt Drive

There aremany box office deaths that are deserved.But few and far between are the box office deaths that get grieved. Welcome to the wake for Drive. This well-reviewed favorite at the Cannes and Toronto film festivals, with 92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, was a cut above other moviesso this is more of a post-mortem than an autopsy report.As FilmDistrict’s president of theatrical distribution Bob Berney emailed me the weekend of its opening,”Dont know if youve seen Drive or not.But its extreme in many ways: ultra-violent, very different pacing. As Albert Brooks (sleazy crime lord and ex-movie producer in the film) says about his characters films,’some critics call them European’.This film is not a typical formulaic wide release.Yes, the CinemaScore is ‘C-’ but I just think that their methodology is designed for the average, wide release film. They never anticipated asking people about a Nic Refn movie! I dont buy it and hope they are very wrong.” Defined as an American genre movie, based on the book by James Sallis, with a screenplay by Hossein Amini, Drive was FilmDistrict’s widest release to date — 2,886locations. Itarrived by way of a pre-buy for U.S. from script stage.Ryan Gosling hand-picked Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson with TomHardy, The Pusher Trilogy).Refn, who went on to win Best Director at Cannes for Drive,has told the story of his “blind date” with Ryan when he first came to LosAngeles: Nic had the flu and was on some type of American medication and wascompletely out of it at the meeting. After awkwardly looking down and not sayinganything, he finally asked Ryan to drive him home. (Nic doesn’t drive.) On the way, with REO Speedwagon playing, he began crying but was living theconcept of the movie; a guy driving at night listening to pop music. Ryan saidhe was in.Through the process they became pals and planningmore films together. (Then again actors respond toRefn. It’s rumored that, instead of “action”, he yells “Let’s fuck!” when starting ascene.) InToronto, Nic, Ryan, Bryan Cranston, and scene-stealing Albert Brooks all wore dark suitsand looked like they had just stepped off the setof Reservoir Dogs. Despite all the Internet and fest hype, Drive‘s weekend box office was surprisingly low-key.FilmDistricthad projected Drive would open#2 witha $12M-$14M weekend.While many R-rated action and horror films normally drop on Saturday over the first weekend, it had a healthy 11% jump, signaling good word-of-mouth for Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman,and Albert Brooks who could getsupporting actor nominations for playing against type.Butit eked out only an $11M weekend for #3.Younger males used to flock to such anoriginal, violent, and stylized R-rated film that breaks a lot of rules.They didn’t.But now young guys who used to be Hollywood’s target audienceare just not consistently (and indiscriminately) going to the movies anymore.The reason is either financial or too many other entertainment choices. That wasthe gist of internal conversations insidestudios all summerwhen uncompelling fare like Conan The Barbarian, Fright Night,Cowboys & Aliens, and Green Lantern fell short with young guys.”It didnt dawn on us they weren’t coming tothe malls,” one perplexed exec told me. “Instead, adults did.” Still, Drive’s mere $4M was the 3rd best opening day forGosling, behind Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Notebook,sparkingdebate over whetherRyan is hurt if hecan’t fill seats fora good pic.”Noway,” Berney tells me. “It says that he is a smart guy who picks challenging roles and is in it for the long career. He has carefully taken smaller indie roles over the pastfew years and has mixed in bigger studio films where he always shines. Hesgot a supportive team behind him, and he doesnt follow the typical path, and Ireally think that will serve him well over the long run.” As for Drive‘s underperformance, Berney admits to me, “Somepeople thought it should have done $20M the first weekend, but they are crazy!Even with the great reviews and Cannes pedigree, its still an ‘arts-ploitation’film. Its out there in a new genre. Its really a polarizing film but in a good way. The pacing, music, style, and violence creates heated debate and reaction. The people that love it, really love it and talk about it. But its too extreme for many.” FilmDistrict plansover the next few weeks in terms of the number oflocations to consolidatein each market so the screen averages for core theaters in top urban marketswill remain high.For its 2nd weekend in release,Drive was the#2 or #3 film in many of the complexes. Overall, it was No. 7 and dropped only -50%. There may be life left in this pic.

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