German-born filmmaker Edward Berger told UK exhibitors his Bafta-winning papal thriller Conclave may have been lost had it landed on a streaming platform. Instead, the film has grossed $110m to date at the worldwide box office.
“It might have very well disappeared on Netflix,” said Berger at the UK Cinema Association’s annual conference in London on March 18.
“People are talking, nothing big happens in the first five minutes, you need patience, you need to lock people in the cinema to watch it.
“We need to put people in the movie theatre to give them the opportunity to engage, people are much more impatient by nature.”
Conclave was produced by the UK’s House Productions with US sales outfit and producer FilmNation. Focus Features handled the US release in October and Black Bear released the film in the UK-Ireland in November, ahead of an international rollout. It is still screening in cinemas.
“An exhibitor complained the other day he still has to play it – there are so many great movies, people still want to keep seeing it, it’s wonderful,” said Berger.
The filmmaker’s production company Nine Banners has a first-look film deal with Netflix. He is in the edit on The Ballad Of A Small Player – his first film under the deal – which he produces alongside Mike Goodridge of Good Chaos and Matthew James Wilkinson. The film stars Colin Farrell and is set in Macau.
Berger’s All Quiet On The Western Front was released by Netflix in October 2022, pre-dating his deal with the US streamer. The First World War epic won seven Baftas, including best film and best director.
“All Quiet had a big bang in the beginning – you think, Oh, it might be exciting. It’s a different type of film [to Conclave]. Conclave was also English language and had the opportunity to get funding from distributors – it was financed from distributors around the world, not from America, just international sales. They took all great risks on this movie, which is not an obvious $110m box office.”
Expanding on why All Quiet On The Western Front was well-suited to Netflix, Berger said: “There’s nowhere could have made All Quiet but Netflix, at that time. The budget – it was Covid, find a company that would spend that much money. The film was quite cheap [reportedly $20m] but for a German-language film, it was expensive. Find someone who is going to invest at that time in the film.
“They supported the film in a way no other German film has had the pleasure of. You have to see [films] in context – it is a German-language film that had a wonderful global release. It came out in quite a few German cinemas, and quite a few cinemas here [the UK], obviously quite a limited release… Every time, you put your heart into it, and you make it the same [for streamers or cinemas].”
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