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Ever since word broke at Toronto that IFC had picked up Steven Soderbergh’s Che for US distribution, there have been conflicting rumors as to how the company, known for its day-and-date theatrical and VOD releases, would handle a film of this length, scope, and potential Oscar cachet. At yesterday’s NYFF press conference, Soderbergh talked a bit about the “roadshow” concept, through which the entire two-part film will first hit theaters.
He confirmed that in each market the film enters, it’ll screen for just one week, on one screen, with ticket buyers paying a premium (probably $25 each, including full-color printed program) for the experience. “I think that’s the ideal way to see it,” the director said, although he acknowledged that “it’s a lot to ask of an audience, to throw away an entire day.”
A source told me last night that IFC is banking that a lot of people are going to want to throw away their days on Che.
After the film completes its initial one-week run at the Zeigfeld theater in Midtown Manhattan in early December, it will move on to other cities (and premiere on VOD), but then the roadshow print will come back to New York in January to take up residence at the IFC Center downtown. The theater will then screen the full 4-something hour extravaganza daily, until demand runs out. The person I talked to said the theater’s operators are confident that there will be enough curious cinephiles and Che obsessives to keep the movie playing there for “a loooong time.” Certainly, if Benicio Del Toro gets the expected Best Actor nomination, you’d think there’d be at least one or two people in the tri state area who’d want to come out and see the film on a big screen.
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Normally I prefer to see movies in theaters, but when we cross the four-hour barrier, I think longingly of DVD and my own comfy couch (unless Alamo Drafthouse would show “Che” with a long and interesting feast attached … I might pay for that).
The longer a film, the more I want to see it in the theater.
what about small towns
i dont view this thing on a small screen the first time. this movie demands big screen. so whats a guy in florida to do
I saw the full screening of this at TIFF, and it is not only worth it, the time actually kind of flies by. It’s an event movie, not in the same sense as summer blockbusters are, but it is an experience to watch - and a great flick too.
Very few people are going to invest 25 bucks and part of a day on a biopic of a Commie loser like che guevara.
They tried it once in the 1960s and it bombed then, when more people knew who that creep was.
Wow Davie Black, why don’t you keep your politics out of it? You clearly wouldn’t invest $25 for someone who stands for something you clearly think of very poorly, but that doesn’t mean that everyone thinks like you.
If everyone thought like you, no one would watch movies, because we’d all have our heads in the sand or up our arses. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you keep yours in the sand, next time why don’t you keep it there instead of commenting?
DESPERATELY want to see this film in BOTH its 4 1/2 hour form, and it’s separate 2:15 minute segments, ala KILL BILL… Wish I lived in New York…
I saw the CHE Experience at Toronto this year (4hrs 50 min, including an intermission in between.) It also screened separately as individual films, and I worry that Mr. Soderbergh has settled upon a format that will cripple the success and viewability of his film. I think the films should come out as separate entities AFTER this $25 experience. Release them 2 weeks apart, with a short explanation at the beginning (and maybe at the end) and let people see it that way too. I would like to see it that way now that I saw it as a whole. For a 2-part movie, there’s nothing wrong with splitting it. It might even be better to see it apart, to digest and have the second part a bit later. Might give some nice perspective on it.
That said, that was one of my favorite filmic experiences of my life, seeing it together like that w/ a film loving crowd. The movie also happens to be amazing. His best work, hands down, since “Traffic.”
Humm, bring this to Chicago, strike a 70MM DTS print, and charge $15. Then we’ll have something going.
Uh, Jason H., are you suggesting that a film about a commie radical IS NOT going to be political?
Soderbergh’s generation loved people like CG when they were in university doing massive amounts of illegal drugs and sleeping with anyone with a pulse.
Your request to stop sharing my free opinion on CG is indicative of someone who would readily embrace the anti-libertarian views of communists.
I’ll wager a substantial sum that when Oliver Stoned’s biopic of Bush is released you’ll be one of the first to hop aboard the Bush bashing bandwagon.
Can’t wait to see it in NYC next month, at least the first part, it would be wise to release the second part at least a month later.
Great choice doing a 2 piece movie, as it will explore more the story,so far it had rave reviews everywhere.
As for the film per-se I’ll reserve my opinion till I see it, hopefully won’t be so bias and pollitically incorrect as “Evita”, Hollywood tend to make caricatures of every polical figure, if is something on the vein of “Mongol”, I’ll be pleased,.
In the other hand how can you portrait an icon as The Che? Fortunalty Soderbergh will find a balance, but the public sensibility is ready for this kind of movie, unlike the ’60’s.
[...] is using a new, or at least, relatively rare, film marketing technique. An industry blog called Spout says: Soderbergh talked a bit about the “roadshow” concept, through which the entire [...]