25/08/2006

For this bank holiday weekend in the UK, Pathe Distribution is banking on two highly entertaining European films and backing them with healthy P&A campaigns. Pedro Almodóvar’s multi-award winning Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile] (see focus) is being released on 87 screens – an unusually big print run for a foreign-language film – while horror spoof Severance [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by the UK director of Creep, Christopher Smith, is coming out on 301 screens.

Almodóvar is a "known quantity" for Pathe Distribution, who has handled the Spanish filmmaker’s last four films in the UK, from Live Flesh to Bad Education [+see also:
trailer
film profile], with very similar box office results (approximately £1.3m each).

“Volver is among Pedro’s most ‘accessible films’”, comments Alisdair Nicholson from Pathe’s marketing department. “And with Penelope Cruz, who has a real star appeal, the film should do double that amount”, he adds with confidence.

Volver is being backed by a massive press and PR campaign. Both Almodóvar and Cruz came to the film’s UK premiere in early August and did the full round of interviews. Marketing also includes a large outdoor poster campaign in London and a national TV advertising campaign. A total £500,000 P&A budget was spent on the film’s release, which was supported by the UK Film Council’s P&A Fund.

Compared to Shaun of the Dead, Severance is a pure horror film with a good mix of humour. The film is supported by “fantastic reviews in the UK press”, according to Nicholson. “Its target audience is the 15-24 year-old multiplex audience. We have put together a bus and outdoor campaign nationwide, a huge TV and radio campaign as well as our biggest ever internet campaign”.

Severance had a preview screening last night at London’s annual FrightFest Film Festival (August 25-28), which was attended by the film’s cast and crew. Produced by Jason Newmark for Dan Films with Qwerty Films in the UK, in co-production with Germany’s N1 European Film Produktion, the film was sold by Hanway Films to several territories, including France (La Fabrique de Films), Spain (Vertigo Films), Italy (Medusa) and Scandinavia (Scanbox)