Fackham Hall Box Office Recap

Now that Fackham Hall’s US​ theatrical run has reached its conclusion, we wanted to take a moment to talk about how things are going, and answer some of the questions we’ve received from shareholders.

First, the results. 

After two weeks in theaters, we ended with just over $1 million in US ticket sales. This was a solid result given the window we released into. The film did what it needed to do.

RENT/OWN FACKHAM HALL ON VOD NOW

Like so many films today, the release of Fackham Hall was optimized for VOD instead of the box office. We settled for an extremely tight theatrical window that unlocked an attractive VOD release.

Why was the movie released like this?
As a fan-owned company, we love the theatrical experience. And we know from our most recent shareholder poll* that a lot of you do too. In fact, we heard from a lot of folks who wanted to see Fackham Hall in the theater, but never got a chance. (At least not yet…see below!)

Do we prefer optimizing for VOD instead of theatrical? Not really. But it was probably the best thing to do financially. The reality today is that there’s far more money to be made from VOD and streaming than theatrical release for many films.

Why was the theatrical window so short?
Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the busiest times of the year at movie theaters. Big studio releases stake out their positions years in advance. But there’s always a small gully between the big holidays, during the first couple weeks of December.

It’s tight window. You have two weeks to fight holdovers of the huge Thanksgiving movies (Wicked and Zootopia) before the huge Christmas movies (Avatar, David, etc) take over all the screens. In this case, we also had to contend with Five Nights At Freddies Part 2, which turned into a record-breaking juggernaut.

All this made Dec 5th a tough time to launch in theaters. But – after a 21 day window – it enabled a primo VOD window starting at 9PM PT on Dec 25th.

The film played near me, but didn’t have many showtimes? Why was that?
When the box office is busy, all the films vie for screen space. This year, we (Legion M and Bleecker) found it very difficult to get full schedules. Theaters would offer us as few as one showtime a day, and we had to decide whether to take it or leave it. We chose to take them.

Ultimately, the film was released in over 1,100 theaters, with about ⅓ having full schedules, and the rest split between strong splits (e.g. 3 or 4 screenings that included prime showtimes) and weak splits (e.g. 1 late show each day).

What does this mean for the film financially?
It’s still too early to tell – the battle for Fackham Hall will be won or lost in VOD. We feel good about where we are – the movie has been well received and pre-orders are strong. We believe this is a movie with potential to stand the test of time, and we’re looking forward to making the most of it over the 20-25 year life of our contract.

Will the movie come back to theaters?
We sure hope so! This is a movie best seen on the big screen - preferably in a full theater full of other people laughing. Like horror, comedy is a genre that lends itself to a shared theatrical experience.

While there are no immediate plans for a theatrical re-release, Legion M would love to bring it back. LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN!

When will the movie be available for free on streaming?
We don’t have an announcement about that yet, but we can tell you that (a) it won’t be available on streaming for several months, and (b) it’s not going to be on Netflix.

You should really just treat yourself and buy a copy on Amazon or Apple TV! It’s the holidays after all. You deserve it!

I didn’t see a logo/credit for Legion M?
When Legion M attached to Fackham Hall, it was too late to get our logo in it. It’s a bummer – we know how galvanizing it is to see the Legion M logo before a great film. In this case, there was nothing we could do about it.

We get our share of the revenue though, which is far more important for Legion M’s future!

What is Legion M’s “deal” for this film?
We’re co-distributing the film with Bleecker Street. We put up a portion of the money to acquire and release the movie, and get our commensurate share of any revenue the film earns for the next 20 years. We believe this is a great deal for Legion M, and a good next step for us as we continue to grow our distribution capabilities.

Can I invest directly into Fackham Hall?
We’re trying to make that happen via the Legion M Film Fund. Click here to learn more and make your reservation today.

Will the movie be available on DVD or BluRay?
Yes! We don’t have a release date yet, but it’s available to pre-order on Amazon. We are also going to carry it in the Legion M shop, where we expect it will have a cool free gift with purchase. Stay tuned – more to come on that soon!

Got Other Questions? Post them here and we’ll try to address them in a future update!