'Bachelorette' Becomes An iTunes Hit

Here is why I think these Radius-TWC heads Tom Quinn and Jason Janego will be interesting to watch as they get untracked heading Harvey Weinstein’s multi-platform releasing company. They’ve done a pre-theatrical release of their Sundance acquisition Bachelorette and it has hit #1 on the iTunes Top Movies chart, the first pre-theatrical release to do so. I saw the Leslye Headland-directed film at its Sundance premiere, and with a cast that included Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson, James Marsden and Adam Scott, everyone thought it would be the female version of The Hangover. But in this film, about best friends whose night of prenuptial debauchery threatens to ruin their closest friend’s wedding, these chicks were so hard to love that many buyers walked away for fear of alienating audiences with a wide release that would have required a big P&A spend. Still, the film’s biting humor is good enough to find a niche adult audience, and Janego and Quinn have started to do this with the iTunes release. These days, indie distributors have to find resourceful ways to find audiences while saving the P&A, as Roadside did with Margin Call last year. This year it’s even tougher to rise above the clutter of all the VOD titles. The Radius guys seem to have found a way to do that, before the September 7 theatrical release. Indeed, by way of comparison, Quinn says Bachelorette‘s performance on VOD exceeds $500K — roughly the same super-successful traditional opening of Moonrise Kingdom, which opened in just 4 theaters and grossed $523K in its first three days. “That’s an incredible opening,” Quinn notes. “Bachelorette’s total performance on VOD exceeds that performance though. That’s a revelation.”

“We are beyond thrilled to hit this milestone,” Radius co-presidents Quinn and Janego said in a canned quote. “From day one, our goal has always been to bring content to viewers when, where and how they want to see it. Leslye has done a sensational job with Bachelorette in delivering a first rate crowd pleaser with a top notch cast that clearly resonates with audiences. This achievement on iTunes gives us terrific momentum”. Here’s the nasty trailer: