Blinded By The Light: case study blog tasks

 Funding and industry contexts:

1) What was the budget for Blinded By The Light and which companies contributed to the production budget?

Bend It Films developed the film with support from Levantine Films and Ingenious Media. The budget was 15 million USD. 

2) Research the Bend It Networks website. What other films and projects has the company been involved with?

Beecham house, Viceroys house, BILB musical, Desi rascals, Wonderful afterlife, Angus thongs, Mistress of spices, Bride and prejudice, Bend it like Beckham, What's cooking?, Bhaji on the beach, I'm British but...

3) Research Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema on the Warners website here. Summarise the history of New Line Cinema in a short paragraph.

New line cinema produces critically acclaimed hit films that resonate with both mainstream and niche audiences around the world. New Line produced the Oscar winning “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, which generated a combined worldwide box office of almost $3 billion with an additional $3 billion in consumer products and home entertainment revenue. This was followed by a trilogy of films based on “The Hobbit,” which also generated nearly $3 billion in global receipts. The Studio is credited with revitalizing the genre of the R-rated comedy with the success of “Wedding Crashers” in 2005, and has a history of producing crowd-pleasing comedies, including the “Friday,” “Austin Powers” and “Rush Hour” film franchises, as well as “Dumb and Dumber,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Elf,” “Horrible Bosses,” “We’re the Millers,” “Central Intelligence” and “Game Night.”

4) Read this Variety interview with director Gurinder Chadha explaining how the project came about - including budget details. How did she manage to get the film made? 

After Chadha and Manzoor met Springsteen, they proceeded to reach out to Jon Landau and Barbara Carr at his management company, along with executive producer Tracy Nurse, a former SVP International Marketing at Sony Music, where she worked with Bruce for years, enlisting her to become part of the film’s production staff. When Springsteen came back from reading the treatment with the simple response, “I’m all good with this,” Blinded by the Light went in front of the cameras, and wowed the audience at Sundance earlier this year, setting up a spirited bidding war won by Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, who acquired it for the $15 million it cost to make.  Offers were being texted to Chadha as she sat in the audience watching her own film. 

5) What attracted Gurinder Chadha to the project?

Gurinder Chadha knows first hand what it feels like to be an outsider. Born in Kenya when the country was a British colony, she grew up part of the Indian/Asian diaspora who made their way from East Africa to London. For that reason, the 59-year-old’s movies has always dealt with the immigrant experience, and her latest is no different, telling the story of a Muslim Pakistani teenager growing up in Thatcher’s England whose narrowly structured life is saved when he’s turned on to the music of Bruce Springsteen during the late ‘80s National Front/dole queue era. It serves as a poignant parallel to the xenophobia of today.

Production and distribution:

1) Which company won the distribution rights after the all-night auction and for how much?

In yet another all-night deal auction at the Sundance Film Festival, New Line and Warner Bros are acquiring for $15 million for worldwide rights, minus a a few territories, the Gurinder Chada-directed Blinded By the Light. The film killed at its packed premiere Sunday night at Eccles and tells the story of a Muslim teen in 1987 Britain who learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen. Like 16 songs worth of the Boss’ coming-of-age songs.

2) Which other companies were rumoured to be bidding for the distribution rights?

eOne already had pre-bought UK, Australia and New Zealand on the film.

3) According to the article, what was the 'allure' of Blinded By The Light?

Some of the allure of Blinded by the Light had to do with the surprisingly universal appeal of Springsteen’s coming-of-age tunes, which tell honest stories about a hardscrabble upbringing, ambition and the fight to break free of all shackles to do something worthwhile with one’s life. Chadha wrote the script with Sarfraz Manzoor and Paul Mayeda Berges.

4) What does the article suggest about the significance of Bruce Springsteen's role in the production and promotion of the film?

Based on the memoir Greetings from Bury Park by journalist/writer Sarfraz Manzoor. Manzoor is even more of a Springsteen fanatic than I am, and he’s been to about 150 shows. Landing the rights to use that many songs from an artist as major as Springsteen is a blockbuster proposition. But Springsteen has been in a very introspective mode with his autobiography and Broadway show, and the filmmakers met Springsteen and charmed him enough to bless the project and make it possible to feature his songs.

5) UK distribution was secured by eOne Entertainment. Visit the eOne About Us page on their website - what do they claim to offer under the heading 'Passion meets possibility?'

eOne enables every step in the entertainment value chain from development and production to marketing and distribution. With the reach of a studio and the flexibility of an indie, we share bold stories with audiences around the world.

Promotion and reception:

1) What does the trailer suggest regarding genre and the potential audience pleasures of Blinded By The Light?

It's more of a coming of age and musical type of genre. I think it targets 40+ audience but youngsters can also watch and maybe enjoy it too. 

2) What did film posters for Blinded By The Light feature and where did they appear?

The main character, Springsteen name in bold, the director, eye catching colours

3) What TV shows and websites did interviews with writer, director and stars of Blinded By The Light? Why are interviews a good way to promote a new film release?

BBC 1, Hey you guys they both interviewed Sarfraz Manzoor. 

4) How does the Blinded By The Light Twitter account create and maintain interest in the film?

Posts snippets of the film to attract others into watching the movie. There's also information about the director herself. 

5) How does the Blinded By The Light Facebook page use images and video content to promote the film?

Also posts snippets of the film and posters regarding the film with bold text all over to attract the audience. 

6) Select three posts from the Blinded By The Light Instagram page and explain how they promote the film.

They promote the film using eye catching posters with certain scenes as the background. 

7) Go to the Bend It Networks YouTube channel. How does Gurinder Chadha introduce the channel?  What other content is on the Bend It Networks YouTube channel?

She introduces herself and introduces what Bend it Networks is really about and how its about her connecting with all of us. 

8) Look at the box office figures for Blinded By The Light from The Numbers website. How much did it make at the box office and why do you think it was largely unsuccessful?

Theatrical Performance
Domestic Box Office$11,901,145Details
International Box Office$6,235,611Details
Worldwide Box Office$18,136,756
Home Market Performance
Est. Domestic DVD Sales$597,043Details
Est. Domestic Blu-ray Sales$550,326Details
Total Est. Domestic Video Sales$1,147,369
Further financial details...

I'm not quite sure why it was largely unsuccessful. 

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