Future of “Tomorrow” sequel to be decided at Cannes
The future of the sequel to last year’s highest grossing local film, Tomorrow, When the War Began, will be decided over the week at the Cannes International Film Festival.
Omnilab Media managing director Christopher Mapp told IF magazine that it remained committed to the franchise despite disappointing overseas box office results. Both the format of the sequel and the involvement of writer-director Stuart Beattie (who is set to helm US film I, Frankenstein later this year) have yet to be decided.
“We’re still absolutely keen to see some form of the franchise existing and that will definitely happen,” Mapp said, just before boarding a flight to Cannes this week. “What shape that takes due to a few things, like Stuart Beattie moving on, is not locked in stone so there will be a number of discussions at Cannes over the next ten days, or the next week really, around that.”
The $27 million action-thriller, which was largely funded by media conglomerate Omnilab, grossed an impressive $13.48 million in Australia last year.
However, its overseas results fell flat with the film grossing just $US140,707 on its opening weekend in the United Kingdom across 205 theatres, according to Box Office Mojo.
“The word-of-mouth wasn’t quick enough to lift the box office in all the foreign territories and you know the results – they weren’t good enough,” Mapp said.
Despite Omnilab’s offer to subsidise the North American cost of prints and advertising (P&A) last year, the film has still not been released in the US. At the time, even Academy Award-winning Australian director Peter Weir endured months of difficulties finding US distribution for his epic drama The Way Back as the market remained particularly risk-averse.
Tomorrow will probably now have a limited North American theatrical release aimed at driving home entertainment and DVD sales, Mapp said.
“It’s one of those films that got very close – everyone loved the film but it’s a challenge to get people to see it in the foreign territories,” he said.
“No-one will ever know but I still say if it had gone out wide, it had a chance in English speaking territories, but it needed to go out really hard with the marketing. In the UK they gave it a decent shot through Paramount and it didn’t find the audience. Now if they had gone a bit harder with the audience would they have a better chance of finding it? We’ll never know.
“But everyone is baffled by the result out of the UK – there’s obviously a number of things with the weather but that’s not enough to give it that excuse.”
In contrast, Omnilab has already secured a major distributor, Open Road Films, for its upcoming action-thriller Killer Elite. It will be distributed across more than 2000 theatres and, in a departure from Omnilab’s previous strategy, it will not put up any of the $25 million in P&A costs for North American distribution.
Tomorrow is not alone in its struggle to find an offshore audience – the highest grossing film of 2009, Mao’s Last Dancer, also posted subdued business overseas.
The $25 million dance epic grossed more than $15.4 million in 2009 and more than $US4.8 million in the US. It also topped Australian DVD sales in 2010, selling more than 100,000 copies. Screen Australia recently revealed that it had received $352,403 back from its initial $4 million investment. It has not received a return from its $3.5 million investment in Tomorrow.
not keen of the usage of the term ‘some form’ of the existing franchise. I think if it doesn’t go well at cannes, that ‘some form’ means TV.
Actually tv is kind of likely- i think people are overreacting though- tv wouldn’t be soooooo dreadful but id prefer cinema
Yeah cinema would be good, but if it was a success the tv would probably be a better medium from a story point of view because there is so much to tell 7 books remember. However if it didn’t get the ratings then it would get caned & the story wouldn’t get finished.
SO FREAKING EXCITED!
me too!!!
C. Mapp/Omnilab seems too too keen to blame anyone/anything else but themselves for the poor overseas results.
They didn’t even send Caitlin and Lincoln to UK, who have millions of fans over there, to promote the movie,
Penny pinching is hardly the right strategy if you want big returns…
i reckon they would have made money by doing a world wide release, because it was up on torrent websites before even being released internationally.
@Alex: I agree, they could have waited a little longer for the right time when they had everyone else on board. I mean it would have sucked a bit at first having to wait longer, but still; it would mean better results. Perhaps they thought they didn’t have to put much effort in because of it’s popularity in Aus, and then tried to use the same strategy overseas, where people didn’t know much about the books.
There’s something fishy about the UK results, I mean it opened in TONES of theatres, I’m pretty sure they had it on plenty of screens during opening week given it had the second or third highest gross total, but it made very little per screen.
@chookie: No, their gross wasn’t big, I think they were 27.th or something the 1st week. And the following week their gross dropped significantly again over the already poor 1st week results. Then it was the end of UK release
So all that points to poor marketing & lack of promotion. (I think C. Mapp sort of admits it in a way that they relied on ‘word of mouth’ which didn’t work overseas).
It wasn’t just a timing issue either, they just had to invest more for promotion. I mean how much would it cost them to send Lincoln and Caitlin to the UK where they have a big fan base, to promote the movie? 20K, 30 K? it’s peanuts if you’re promoting a feature film.
Anyhow, looks like TWTWB fans, who have done so much to support this movie here, are up for a big disappointment
I don’t see the 2. movie being made after poor UK results and no release in US. I believe C. Mapp’s comments before his Cannes trip were simply aiming to prepare the fans for the bad news. I don’t see him trying too hard for TWTWB, when he has new films to promote there.
I agree with you Alex. I believe that they’re gradually preparing fans for some disappointing news (the loss of Stuart Beattie as director and writer or the films not being made). I want to be optimistic and hope that they’ll continue this brilliant series of films, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Stuart and his cast to return on set.
And I too think that the promotion was badly handled. I’m also sure that those bad reviews I read didn’t help, at all. A reviewer gave the movie 1 star. I know that there are people who are intelligent enough and able to make their own ideas about a film, but the majority of audience are hugely influenced by critic’s reviews or simply choose to not go and see a movie if they hear bad things about it. They were really unfair, 1 star is just beyond ridiculous.
They should have sent Lincoln and Caitlin, yes. They could have joined Rachel and there you go. And in the rest of Europe they should have used the success of the series. In Sweden the film wasn’t even advertised but we know how much people love the books there.
I think that something will be made- and i hope movies but this is a very VERY low chance i think. I think its going to hit TV, and I think that fans need to be prepared for this. Think about it this way- it’s better than nothing, which is still probably :s
I prefer nothing, to be honest. The best thing would be a series of movies, I just don’t like the idea of a TV series, that’s my personal opinion. I don’t see a TV series being made in the future anyway. They’d have to start preparing new things, work on different schedules, they’d have to cast different actors (maybe), find a new director and writer…
I believe a tv series would be better than nothing! at least we’d still get the story. but you make a good point about the schedules, when do you think we’ll find out about the decision ?
I dislike the idea of a TV series because pretty much everything would change, I love the first film, they did an excellent job in keeping it faithful to the book. I think the books (especially the third and the fifth) have the cinematic feel, the pace of them suits much better on the big screen. Can you imagine how would look the airfield scene or Ellie and Homer blowing up the ships on the small screen? I think that these books deserve much more than what a TV series could ever offer, it has its limits, the movies have their limits too but don’t think that just because the books would be on the small screen they’ll include more scenes. There will be much stuff they’ll cut out to make it fast paced, so the character’s development wouldn’t be any different from what you see in a film.
What I say is that if I want the series to continue it has to be done well. I don’t want a terrible adaptation or TV series, I would like to see it to continue with the same cast and director so the quality is assured, that’s why I said I would prefer nothing.
Adam I have no idea when we’ll find out unfortunately, I think that there’s been some form of discussion yet but they’ll announce it later.
You are too right Nadia. TV series will totally kill the spirit of it. It’ll be either too boring (the slower paced books), or a dodgy action flick on small screen (3rd. & 5th book).
Swedish no-release is another disgrace, as the books were published and did extremely well in Sweden. I really get the feeling that Omnilab/Paramount lost interest in the project, maybe because they made enough profit from producing it (even though all the investors lost) and did not want to take any risks. Now they are too busy flogging their other films, and hence their priority is to manipulate the fans, not promoting the film.
Unless they start the 2nd movie now (ie this year!) the cast will be too old to continue
That’s a pity because even though these things do happen and you can always get a new cast; it is hard to find one with the excellent chemistry the current cast seem to have developed. (watching the DVD I enjoyed behind the screens stuff as much as the movie itself!!).
I don’t see Stuart coming back to it at all either. In the next few years he’ll be busy with his current film. And after that -unless he is desperate- why should he waste another 2 years of his career in Australia and miss all US opportunities; for another film that can’t even make it to Europe or US. As a professional he has to take care of his career and I can’t blame him either.
So unfortunately all I can say is shame on you Omnilab/Paramount, for lack of commitment to the movie and the project
(
You’ve disappointed all the fans who delivered you the millions of $.
Shame shame shame…
The pacific- band of brothers, both very brilliant tv series based around war. I’m not saying I don’t want the movies- it would be so much better- I’m just saying a TV series would beat nothing in my eyes. I would at least give it a chance.
Adam I can see your point but if we have to give the TV series a chance we’ll take many risks, I don’t think they’ll will be worth of it, but that’s just my opinion. One thing I’m sure about: if the book series has to be adapted it has to be done well. And if people want the books to be made into “something, I just want them to be made” then they don’t have to complain about the final result. Because I’ve seen million people saying “Oh I don’t care, I just want them to be made” and then they complain about everything, that is incoherent. Sorry Adam, I’m not referring to you in any way, I know that you loved the first film, what I’m saying is that people should be more careful with what they say/write, because there’s really a few things to complain about the first film, especially if they say that they’re happy with whatever they get as long as they see the books adapted. Personally I’m sick about people criticising every single thing of a film where the director made every possible effort to make it closer to the book as possible. I don’t think that some people realised how lucky we have been, that we haven’t had a dreadful film adaptation like the Harry Potter films (and that’s one example, there’s plenty of terrible adaptation… Eragon films?).
I think that if we want something brilliant we’ll have to wait. We’ve been waiting so long for the first one and I think it was well worth of the wait, so I think that we’ll be able to wait for another year if not more when we’re sure that the result will be great.
Thank you Alex. Needless to say that I completely agree with you.
Exactly. A TV series will kill the spirit of the books. Tomorrow deserves much more than what a TV show could ever offer and just because we’re talking about small screen it doesn’t mean that it’s an easy thing to work on. Sometimes work on the pace of a TV series can be even more difficult than a film. While on a movie you can have 10 (if not more) “slow” minutes and the overall the result is a rollercoaster ride (that’s how Stuart Beattie described the first film and I agree with him) in a TV series you can’t have a slow paced episode and a fast paced one. It will be stressing for fans and the audience, and I wouldn’t enjoy it. Not to mention that what is extremely important in a series is the continuity and that will be gone if they don’t continue the FILMS with the same director and cast.
Yeah, I too felt that they didn’t want to take any risks. Which is silly. Ok if it was some random Australian independent film but this is the Tomorrow series: it has universal themes, the books are beloved here in Europe as well and it could have been easily a cult success if only it was advertised as it deserved. Come on, Stuart Beattie behind it, the man who wrote huge Hollywood blockbusters, I don’t understand why no one mentioned it in the overseas campaign!
It would be a shame to loose the cast as well. They have a fantastic chemistry, I thought that Stuart did a great job in the bonding session. It worked so well! The special features were awesome, I love all the jokes in the Making of and BTS. Not to mention that they did an excellent job with their characters.
I don’t see Stuart coming back to it at all either. In the next few years he’ll be busy with his current film. And after that -unless he is desperate- why should he waste another 2 years of his career in Australia and miss all US opportunities; for another film that can’t even make it to Europe or US. As a professional he has to take care of his career and I can’t blame him either.
I can’t blame him either for wanting to move on but somehow I don’t think that Stuart “left” the series of films. Maybe the Omnilab team doesn’t want him on board anymore, seeing that they always complain about the overseas box office results they probably are looking for another director, which is sad. Beattie showed so many times how he’s passioned about the books, I don’t think that he would leave them into the wrong hands. Not to mention that John Marsden was so happy with the film, he trusted Stuart from the get go, it wouldn’t be fair especially considering that he rejected so many offers to make movies based on the series.
im so hoping on all the books being made into films i watched the first movie and to be honest its one of the best movies ive ever seen ive watched it over and over that i almost know it step by step and i liked it so much i bought the books and i sooo want the next movie and im anxious for the next movie and it was a good australian based sort of movie
i loved the books and hope they make them all.
As an american viewer, I loved the movie and hope they make the rest of the series. I would eve love to see a TV series with this cast as I felt they were great in their roles. We need quality stories for both the cinima and TV here in america as the current crop of films and TV shows being made here are for the most part complate crap.
yeowww
i love emily, she is so cool, i dont know where i would be with out her, shes so cute. ily 4evz emyy bby xoxoxoxoxo
I live in the UK and the marketing was absolutely atrocious! I only found the film when I chanced upon it in the top100 of a torrent site. It was that good I consequently bought the DVD as I like to pay for artists/productions I enjoy to encourage their continuance.
It would be a shame if the franchise wasn’t continued in as higher quality fashion as the first film
It’s 1 of the few films I’ve fallen in love with no matter how much I watch it!