'Visiteurs' to be dubbed, subbed
At first glance, the move might look like little more than the cheek-to-cheek kisses that seemde rigeur as French officials and U.S. film execs greet each other here at the fifth annual Sarasota French Film Festival.
But dubbing has become a battle line between the French and the U.S.
U.S. exhibs generally oppose dubbing as anathema to the arthouse moviegoers that make up the foreign-fare market, while many in the French film industry see it as a good way to reach mainstream U.S. audiences.
The dual marketing plan should put the "dub vs. sub" issue to the test. Although Miramax's involvement came about literally overnight on the penultimate day of the Nov. 10-14 fest, the overall plan is the result of yearlong discussions between Unifrance Film Intl., a French umbrella export group that co-sponsors the fest, and U.S. exhib AMC Entertainment.
The plan calls for the dubbing of three to five pix selected from a pool of 15 entries culled from last year's fest. Although the deal's principals wouldn't elaborate on the financial arrangement, a source says the burden of the dubbing and marketing costs will fall to Unifrance, with AMC exhibiting the resulting pix.
Director Jean-Marie Poire's "The Visitors" was not initially on the list of contenders, but its popularity in France -- French estimates have the grosses approaching $ 100 million there -- and Miramax's interest in the plan immediately put the film at the top of the slate.
The pic, along with several others yet to be chosen, will be distributed Stateside in both versions, with the dubbed print going to test markets in California and Floria. Unifrance is expected to pay the $ 200,000-$ 250,000 in marketing costs for each of the markets where the dubbed version plays. Weinstein says Miramax hopes for a February release of "The Visitors."
The battle line between dub and sub is more than aesthetic. Faced with a dwindling number of global distribs and a growing number of French screens given over to American product, the Gallic industry is scrambling for ways to reinvigorate its export trade.
At least some in the Gallic industry find hope, however modest, in the prospect of dubbing, both to increase France's market share and to break into the cable and video industries.
Unifrance president Daniel Toscan du Plantier, an outspoken advocate of dubbing, was instrumental in arranging the Miramax deal. He says dubbing could increase the French market share in America by five to 10 percentage points over several years by tapping mainstream auds. "Subtitles are for cinefiles," he says , " and cinefiles are not a market, they're a club. I call them 'Woody Allen and family.' "
Many Americans, however, remain skeptical at best. One prominent U.S. distrib derided dubbing as the province of "Hercules movies and spaghetti Westerns." Others simply can't envision dubbed French fare striking coin at suburban U.S. multiplexes.
"No exhibitor has ever asked us for a dubbed version," says Michael Barker, co-prez of Sony Pictures Classics.
Some here even have their doubts the Miramax plan will survive, remembering failed promises several fests back that Italo pic "Cinema Paradiso" would be dubbed with the voices of Daniel Day-Lewis, Jessica Tandy and Walter Matthau.
But with an eager Unifrance picking up the tab, the dubbing experiment could prove a no-lose situation for Miramax.
Conceding the widespread industry skepticism toward dubbing, Toscan du Plantier says, "Maybe all our friends will be proven right, but we must try."
