Straight From Cable to a Theater Near You

If that movie at your local theater triggers a sense of deja vu, it may be because you’ve already seen it on cable.

Though this strategy--the reverse of the normal course of distribution--is being employed more often, not everyone embraces the change. In an era of rising marketing costs, advocates see cable as a launching pad, a way of generating word of mouth. Critics say that movies premiering on cable are often stigmatized as TV fare and have difficulty making the leap.

In recent months, filmmakers sent the independently made “Freeway” and “Normal Life” as well as the home-grown documentary “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” to theaters after airing on HBO, while “Drunks,” to be broadcast Sunday on Showtime, has beenpicked up for a similar release. Showtime has gone a step further than its chief rival by scheduling two films developed expressly for the network--Kevin Bacon’s directorial debut “Losing Chase” and Arthur Penn’s “Inside”--for upcoming theatrical runs.

Matt Riklin, senior vice president of program enterprises and distribution for Showtime, says that major studios as well as smaller distributors are tracking the network’s fare. And with four or five made-for-Showtime movies likely to open next year, he maintains, the company is poised to be a player on the independent scene.

“There’s a certain snobbishness in the feature film arena,” Riklin said. “But the more people see our pictures out there, the more they’ll regard us as a financier of independent movies. To those who believe TV money is tainted, I have three words of advice: ‘Get over it.’ In Europe, TV entities such as Channel 4, the BBC and Canal Plus produce or invest in theatrical films.”

According to “Inside” producer Hillard Elkins, the prospect of a theatrical run was a key ingredient in getting director Penn and actors Nigel Hawthorne and Eric Stoltz to sign on. Strand Releasing plans to open the film, also starring Louis Gossett Jr., on Jan. 10--five weeks after “Losing Chase,” distributed by Cinepix Film Properties, is released.

Showtime’s strategy is a win-win situation, Elkins said: “Filmmakers get to make smaller, personal films that have largely disappeared from the studio schedules. Subscribers get a first look at a theatrical piece at considerably less cost than a night out. And Showtime gets A-list talent and a cut of theatrical profits. HBO and TNT don’t share this philosophy, but there’s no downside as far as I’m concerned.”

Independent movies acquired by HBO--most notably John Dahl’s 1994 duo “Red Rock West” and “The Last Seduction”--went into theaters post-broadcast. More, including pictures produced by Joel Silver (“Lethal Weapon”), will go out in the coming years, the network says. Still, with the exception of documentaries such as “The Celluloid Closet” and “Paradise Lost” and an occasional overseas booking, all HBO original programming is to be kept close to home.

“We draw the line when it comes to ‘Gotti,’ ‘Barbarians at the Gate’ and ‘If These Walls Could Talk’--signature product we develop ourselves,” said Steve Scheffer, president of HBO film programming, video and enterprises. “They’re a specialized programming form designed exclusively for our subscribers. The biggest directors and stars already want to work with us so there’s no incentive on that end. We could come up with ‘Gone With the Wind’ and it wouldn’t hit the big screen.”

Robert Osher, executive vice president of Turner Pictures Group, adopts a similar approach. “We get more value from our original movies on the airwaves,” he said. “Good programming generates interest, which generates ratings, which translate into high advertising rates. Besides, unlike HBO and Showtime, our movies are sometimes designed for commercial breaks.”

Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, regards post-broadcast theatrical release a doomed proposition, in any case. Once aired, the film is stigmatized as a “TV movie” making it hard to get screens and feature film reviews, he said. And since 80% of all TV households have VCRs, the threat of copying is very real. Broadcasting a movie may stimulate word of mouth but can siphon off the audience as well, he added.

“ ‘Celluloid Closet’ wasn’t hurt--but that’s because we negotiated a deal in which HBO aired it once instead of two or three times a day for a month,” the Sony executive said. “We looked upon it as a giant sneak preview. Cable likes to see itself as a launching pad for independent fare but these films need special attention and strategizing. You can’t do it on an assembly-line basis. Only in a rare instance does a film strike a nerve.”

One that did is “The Last Seduction.” Made for less than $1 million, the movie took in an impressive $6.2 million in domestic box office after airing seven times on HBO a few months before. Though Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rules preclude a movie premiering on TV from Oscar competition, Linda Fiorentino walked off with a number of best actress awards, including one from the New York Film Critics Circle.

The broadcast-to-theater pattern can be a fiscal boon for producers and financiers cutting lucrative foreign and cable deals, says October Films co-managing executive Bingham Ray. But when it comes to lining up a distributor, it’s a mixed blessing for the film itself.

“HBO’s participation dampened our enthusiasm. . . . We wanted to own ‘Seduction’ outright,” he said. “Though many figured the broadcast would kill us, we were willing to roll the bones. In retrospect, TV probably helped critics and audience find us--but, in the end, who’s to say? We might have taken in two or three times as much if we had gone into the theaters clean.”

Maybe so. But with the demise of independent distributors such as Hemdale and Kings Road and the sale of the Samuel Goldwyn Co. to Metromedia, filmmakers embrace any new path to the theatrical marketplace.

“Our movie deals with the life and death of three 8-year-old boys--and it would be nice to have it shown without telephone interruptions or the dog needing to be walked,” said Bruce Sinofsky, whose HBO-financed documentary “Paradise Lost”--shot with his partner Joe Berlinger--opened at the Nuart on Halloween.

“Putting movies in theaters is not only a way of profiling the best but a way of recouping some of their costs,” Sinofsky added. “It’s also a gentle way of tweaking Hollywood’s nose--showing cable can compete with $30-million films for audience and awards.”

* A CONTENT RICHARD LEWIS? The ever-depresseive comic finds happiness with his role in”Drunks”. F10