\n\tThe film\u2019s hook is simple and quickly engaging: Decades after her brother\u2019s disappearance, documentarian Tara (Miranda MacDougall) is joined by her cameraman (Tarasiuk) to solve the cold case. With Tarasiuk as director, the small production team was able to shoot the film in just 12 days in Dec. 2023, on a tiny $275,000 budget.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut then things got really interesting.<\/p>\n
\n\tEnter Jacob Crawford, one of the founders of Canadian distributor Moon7, who saw an early festival screening of the film and envisioned its commercial potential. From there, the team dreamed big, and hit some lofty goals: The indie Canadian production will be premiering on more than 1,000 American screens this weekend, and due to presales, it made back its budget even before it opened.<\/p>\n
\n\tTheir strategy was fueled by a curiosity about the theatrical model. First, the team reached out to former National Association of Theatre Owners head John Fithian, whom they knew about from the trades. They were able to contact him and send a copy of their film while they were approaching distributors, and he advised them to push for a theatrical release.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe said, \u2018This movie could really do well in theaters. Why don\u2019t you guys hold off on taking a distribution deal?’\u201d Oliver says. <\/p>\n
\n\tFrom there, Crawford, Oliver and some other Moon7 members went on a \u201ctraveling roadshow\u201d to meet with the heads of the key American theater chains, including AMC and B&B Theatres, both headquartered Kansas, Regal in Knoxville, and Marcus Theatres in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe were expecting, \u2018Maybe they\u2019ll give us 200 or 300 screens, and we can do a little indie release,’\u201d Oliver says. \u201cBut Regal Cinema was our first meeting, and said, \u2018We think 1,000 to 1,200 screens is a good starting place for this film.’\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCrawford says they were also able to speak to the theater owners\u2019 anxieties about opening new, unknown films for fickle audiences.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThey voiced a lot of their frustrations and some of the stresses that they\u2019re feeling with the industry and said, \u2018Here\u2019s how you can help us,’\u201d he says. \u201c\u2018Let\u2019s find a new model, let\u2019s find a new way to bring you a film like this to a ton of screens across the nation.\u2019 In parallel, they know that we\u2019re not a studio, we don\u2019t have a huge P&A budget, but for them, they wanted to understand, \u2018Do you know who your audience is? And do you have a plan to get to them?\u2019 That\u2019s when we pitched an innovative marketing plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe plan that impressed theater owners was the team\u2019s shoestring-but-effective guerrilla marketing campaign, which tipped its hat to indie forebears like \u201cThe Blair Witch Project.\u201d Leaning into the true crime aspect of the film, the team launched a flyover near L.A.\u2019s iconic Griffith Observatory with an interest-piquing banner: \u201cHelp Us! FindMatthewNow.com,\u201d which led to online ticket sales.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tGriffith Observatory flyover<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Moon7<\/p>\n