Working it overseas

Studio's 'Fuzz,' 'Bean' bring in big bucks

By ADAM DAWTREY

'Hot Fuzz'

LONDON -- Working Title proved long ago it's possible to make hits for the international market, with the U.S. as an afterthought. But the success of its British comedies "Mr. Bean's Holiday" and "Hot Fuzz" has taken that model to a new dimension.

By the time "Hot Fuzz" opened Stateside on April 20 with a $5.8 million gross and a hot $7,000 screen average, the movie was already close to $50 million at foreign wickets, with many territories yet to come.

Even more spectacularly, "Mr. Bean's Holiday" has reached $150 million and is heading for a final international tally of $180 million long before it arrives in the U.S. this August.

On the other hand, WT's Las Vegas mob caper "Smokin' Aces," which unspooled in the U.S. in late January, has actually made more Stateside than overseas, scoring $35.6 million. Across the oceans, the movie has made $18.6 million. Pic has yet to unspool in some territories.

All told, the trio of modestly budgeted films have earned Working Title more than $200 million at the foreign box office since January, against $42 million in domestic. None of the pics were pricey: "Fuzz" cost roughly $15 million; "Smokin,'" $22 million; and "Bean," $35 million.

Universal Pictures Intl., launched in January after the breakup of UIP, U's old joint venture with Paramount, couldn't have hoped for a better start in its mission to squeeze more juice out of the foreign market.

In the U.K., where UPI had to start from scratch because Par inherited UIP's old British operation, "Hot Fuzz" -- from the makers of cult fave "Shaun of the Dead" -- and "Mr. Bean's Holiday" are the top two movies of 2007, with $42 million and $40 million respectively.

According to UPI prexy David Kosse, that's a performance that took many people in Hollywood, with their eyes only on the domestic release schedule, completely unawares. "A film like 'Bean' comes out of nowhere for the American audience. It shows a film can do $180 million totally independent of the domestic marketplace, that certain projects don't have to launch out of Hollywood anymore."

Of course, Rowan Atkinson's accident-prone and virtually silent Bean character has always commanded a huge global fanbase, grounded upon the much-syndicated TV shows and the 1997 "Bean" movie. That grossed $206 million in foreign (when the dollar was stronger) and $45 million in North America.

But no one was quite sure if the audience would still be there in 2007 for Bean's simple, old-fashioned brand of slapstick. Turns out they needn't have worried.

Kosse suggests that it's easy for English speakers to underestimate just how potent it is for auds in countries like Malaysia or Portugal to see a studio movie whose largely visual comedy isn't blunted by dubbing.

America will be one of the last countries to get "Mr. Bean's Holiday," and the international results have kindled U's hopes. "We're in the middle of downloading all our knowledge to the domestic guys," Kosse says. "The thinking is that this film could be a lot bigger than we originally thought."

But for Kosse and his team, far the bigger challenge is under way with the gradual rollout of "Hot Fuzz," the first real litmus test of their ability to deliver where UIP could not, or would not. Film reunites "Shaun" helmer-writer Edgar Wright with writer-star Simon Pegg. "Fuzz" spoofs the super-cop genre in the same way "Shaun" spoofed zombie movies.

UIP notoriously refused to release "Shaun" in any but a handful of territories. The low-budgeter grossed a healthy $13.5 million apiece in the U.K. and in the U.S. via Focus.

But UIP toppers were convinced, much to the frustration of Working Title, that its quirky Brit humor wouldn't travel. Results in the few countries it did try, such as Germany and the Netherlands, bore that out, although that may have been a self-fulfilling prophecy caused by a distinctly halfhearted effort.

All of that means UPI is starting almost from scratch with "Hot Fuzz" in finding foreign fans for Wright and Pegg's geek movie humor. The first job was to convince UPI's own local execs, and then exhibitors, of the movie's potential. That started six months ago by finding a young staffer in each country to act as the movie's dedicated champion, inside and outside the company.

"There are a lot of people to persuade, and we have to do it repeatedly," says WT's marketing prexy David Livingstone.

In the U.S., Focus greased the wheels with a number of "Fuzztivals" around the country screening pics like "The French Connection" and "Dirty Harry."

The rollout is deliberately slow, stretching all the way to the fall to skirt the summer blockbusters. "A film like this has to find the right window," Kosse says.

After its chart-topping returns in Blighty, the pic has hit its targets in Australia and subtitle territories such as the Netherlands and Scandinavia, despite the froth being knocked off the figures in Northern Europe by a spring heatwave. The solid Stateside opening has given added momentum to the tougher campaigns in the major dubbing territories, starting with Germany in June.

Hope stems from the fact that, despite the theatrical no-show of "Shaun of the Dead" in some countries, its straight-to-DVD release found a cult audience in those markets.

In the U.S., for example, where "Shaun" sold 1.3 million DVDs on the back of a $13.5 million theatrical gross, Universal's research unearthed the startling, and scarcely believable, assertion that 40% of all 17- to 39-year-olds had not only seen the movie, but counted themselves as fans.

This cult phenomenon, previously seen in the explosion of franchises such as the "Terminator" and "Austin Powers" movies from their relatively modest theatrical debuts, partly explains why "Hot Fuzz" has managed to treble the box office of "Shaun of the Dead" in Blighty, and why it could do the same in North America.

"Hot Fuzz" now looks to be heading for at least $30 million in the U.S. To put that in context, the early consensus within Focus was that "Hot Fuzz" was more parochially British than "Shaun" and would do less well than its predecessor in the U.S.

But when the U.K. figure turned out to be far ahead of expectations, the mindset started to change. As Kosse points out, there are several examples of Brit smashes with local TV talent that have done $20 million in the U.K. but failed to travel abroad ("Ali G in Da House," "Kevin and Perry Go Large," etc.), but no British movie that grossed $40 million on home turf has ever failed to find an international audience. The challenge he has laid down to his territories around the world is to make damn sure "Hot Fuzz" doesn't set the precedent.

Pamela McClintock in Los Angeles contributed to this report.