Black Bear CEO Teddy Schwarzman has seen some ups and downs in the transition from financier-producer-foreign-sales-company-UK-distributor to full-on North American distribution company Black Bear Pictures. The Blackstone scion is smart and experienced enough to know the risks inherent in competing in the fraught indie marketplace. But even in the face of frosty reviews for “Christy,” starring Sydney Sweeney with her bosom buried from view in a boxing movie, he mounted a full-on theatrical release and demonstrated his support for the filmmakers and would-be Oscar contender.
That didn’t happen. The $15-million movie grossed just under $2 million domestic. A year later, Schwarzman is soldiering on, having rejiggered his 65-person staff and executive team (CAA import Ben Kramer left earlier this year) and betting on a range of indie films from critics’ faves “The Rivals of Amziah King” (which died at the box office) and “Tuner” ($9.8 million worldwide) to the Jason Statham survival adventure “Shelter” ($49 million worldwide), Jake Gyllenhaal action thriller “In the Grey” ($13.5 million worldwide) and “Spa Weekend” ($12 million worldwide).
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This weekend Black Bear is releasing Sundance breakout “Wicker” in 1,400 theaters, where it is expected to open to $6 to $8 million. The medieval-period romance showcases British star Olivia Colman as a spinster fishmonger who commissions a wicker husband (Alexander Skarsgard). He wildly exceeds her romantic fantasies, breaks her bed, and upends every marriage in the village.
Black Bear joined the project at the script stage as international sales agent, partnering with financiers Topic and Tango. When Black Bear finally saw how the film played at Sundance, they acquired North American distribution rights. “What we’ve always tried to do with Black Bear,” said Schwarzman on Zoom, “is find films that are original, or stand out in their genre, have a real vision from a director standpoint, and make you feel in some way. … We couldn’t find a more original film than ‘Wicker,’ despite the fact that it’s an adapted short story, but the entire conceit was executed near perfection. … We were blown away that there was something weird and provocative and horny and sexual and ultimately actually incredibly emotional and human.”
Black Bear has also hired a new marketing team, scooping up former Neon executive Bianca Parkes, a graphics whiz who knows strategy, guerilla marketing, print campaigns, and merchandising, after her husband Christian left to found Clockwork at Warner Bros., as well as PR vet Heather Phillips, who has worked all sides of the studio/indie street. The “Wicker” marketing has been inspired, from a 6 foot 6 wicker standee to the “dream boyfriend” campaign.
Leaning into the weird side of this romantic fantasy, the “Wicker” trailer went viral across Black Bear’s owned channels, generating 80.3 million views in its first two weeks, with 70.5 million of those views coming organically (nearly 88 percent), generating social media conversations far and wide. On TikTok alone, trailer-related reactions and user-generated content amassed an additional 322 million views, bringing the combined total to over 402 million views. Needless to say, this evidence of consumer interest boosted the distributor’s confidence in the film’s commerciality.
The rap on Black Bear, which they deny, is that they don’t spend. Schwarzman is considered to be frugal. But they are spending now. They learned from watching Netflix’s handling of another Sundance hit, “Train Dreams,” which relaunched with a fresh campaign at the fall festivals with strong results.
Thus “Wicker” played a selection of fall festivals, skipping Toronto but selling out instantly at Middleburg. On the awards front “The Favourite” Oscar-winner Colman (boasting new hair extensions imitated on the red carpet by the ingenious Skarsgard) is in the Actress conversation as well as the hair and makeup team.
Schwarzman has figured out his ongoing strategy, he said, “We are now having a true north of the type of movies that we want to be making and that we want to be releasing, which are filmmaker-centric, original, entertaining, and with some substance to what they are.”
In today’s trying times, it may be that a sexy escapist fantasy is just what audiences need.