Forget the Superheroes

By Jess Cagle

Road to Perdition, which opens next month, isn't your typical Tom Hanks movie. The Nicest Guy in Hollywood plays a taciturn hit man in Depression-era Chicago--not the kind of movie you'd expect to see in the summer. No clones. No superheroes. And the car chases never exceed 45 m.p.h. It will be released on July 12, right between Men in Black II (July 3) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (July 26). Walter Parkes, co-head of the DreamWorks film division, concedes that "it's an unusual time to release an R-rated adult picture. But if you look at this summer, it's so front-loaded with big-event movies, it seems that the audience might be ready for serious fare rather quickly."

Actually, we already are. Among the sound and fury and ka-ching of this summer's sequels and action movies (which will make summer 2002 by far the richest in Hollywood history), there's also a healthy menu of serious studio movies and smart independent comedies and dramas that audiences are embracing. Last month the searing adultery drama Unfaithful opened between Spider-Man and Star Wars and has held on well at the box office. The R-rated Al Pacino thriller Insomnia has also done well. The unassuming but endearing indie comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding has found an audience, with minimal advertising and generous word of mouth. And Miramax is betting against the glut of blockbusters with four art-house movies this summer, including Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Full Frontal, director Steven Soderbergh's star-studded but extremely arty movie set for release Aug. 2. "The premise behind releasing all these is, there's nothing for my mother and my friends to see in the summer," says Mark Gill, president of Miramax L.A. "They're not going to all the big blockbusters. They like smart movies."

Smart movies can be smart business. Though big-studio offerings like Unfaithful and Road to Perdition come with big budgets, most of this summer's alternative films are low-cost endeavors with wider profit margins. There's a word for this strategy: counterprogramming. The classic example is Saving Private Ryan, an R-rated war movie that became an unlikely blockbuster in the summer of 1998. But this summer's crop of good alternative films is even more bountiful than usual.

Miramax has the sharp sex comedy Tadpole (opening July 19) on its summer slate, says Gill, because "a very sophisticated comedy is much tougher to release in the fall, when there are sophisticated dramas." Fox Searchlight is putting out The Good Girl, a dark comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, on Aug. 7, and duplicating the carefully mapped out release pattern it used for The Deep End last year. Like many indie films, The Good Girl will open first in New York City and Los Angeles. "When you don't have big TV-advertising budgets and you're really relying on publicity and buzz, you need to start in New York and L.A.," explains Fox Searchlight distribution president Steve Gilula.

Despite the heated competition for theater space among the blockbuster wannabes this summer, art films are actually having an easier time finding homes. The country's top 75 markets all have art houses or artistically bent multiplexes where small movies are sought after. "The only time it's dangerous to open against a commercial film is when that film is by Scorsese or Soderbergh or the Coen brothers," says Jack Foley, distribution and marketing chief for Focus, which is releasing The Kid Stays in the Picture, a documentary about maverick '70s movie producer Robert Evans, opposite the Austin Powers sequel.

Of course, counterprogramming isn't a fail-safe strategy. Universal released About a Boy last month, hoping that female moviegoers would choose Hugh Grant over Spidey and Anakin. Though the comedy got stellar reviews and has already earned back its $27 million cost, it might have made more in a less crowded season. A small art film can turn a profit in a few theaters, while more expensive films intended as counterprogramming must compete with blockbusters for a wider audience. Universal plans to keep About a Boy on select screens throughout the summer and pull it up to a $40 million gross by "constantly monitoring the marketplace and conditions," says Universal's vice chairman Mark Shmuger. With movies like About a Boy, this summer's marketplace has become a lot richer, especially for the ones buying tickets.