Inside Move: Raising Capital
Sacramento: art pic pulse point
According to Jack Foley, USA Films' exec veep of worldwide distribution, it's Sacramento, Calif. Which is why USA Films bowed its latest release, "What Ever Happened to Harold Smith," there on June 15.
Set in 1970s England, the Peter Hewitt-helmed pic centers on a young man (Michael Legge) whose musical allegiance switches from disco to punk and his relationship to his telekinetic father (Tom Courtenay) -- not quite the usual fare for California's agrarian state capital.
While using a midsize market to test a pic is hardly a new strategy, Sacramento isn't a well-known Petri dish for the arthouse market.
However, Foley says, the city is similar to Austin, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, "where you can get a good response from the avid art film viewer without spending an arm and a leg."
If the film performs well, "Harold" will bow in later this month in Gotham and L.A., where opening a pic costs six figures. If it flops in Sacramento, it will be shelved, the way USA's "Bloody Angels," which tested poorly in Austin and Milwaukee over Memorial Day weekend, was.
California's capital also is a good place to take an audience's temperature for larger releases. Steven Soderbergh previewed his USA Films release "Traffic" in Sacramento. The pic went on to win four Academy Awards.
