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How did a Ben Affleck movie go straight to DVD?

Tue., May. 1, 2007 5:14 PM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

What determines if a movie is released to theaters or directly to DVD, especially if it has a big star in it?
—Carol, Farmington, Missouri

The B!tch Replies: "The movie must suck," jokes one film marketer friend of mine.

And she's only half kidding.

If a film fails to screen well, it's more likely to head straight to the new-release list on Netflix. Example: The Contract, an upcoming flick costarring two big stars, John Cusack and Morgan Freeman. Check out the sell line: "The only thing standing between an assassin and his target is a father who must protect his son."

Gee, sounds like a taut thriller, if not a delightful romp, as the reviewer at Wireless Week magazine may put it. But sadly for our esteemed Mr. Freeman, the movie is being released directly to DVD this summer.

Why? Could be because of early reviews like this one, posted recently on IMDb.com by a spy lucky enough to catch an early screening:

"This film watches like a bad episode of The A-Team. Did Cusack and Freeman lose a gambling bet, and were they out of money so badly they didn't even bother to read the script?"

Other reasons for sending a movie to DVD purgatory: money and, well, money. If Cusack had instead chosen an Oscar-bait project—say, a Jarmusch art picture about an autistic boy raised by shark gods on the island of the aboriginal Tiwi peoples—the paying audience might be so small the studio would be forced to release it on DVD.

"Often, just because a film has a big star in it doesn't mean it will appeal to a theatrical audience," my marketer explains. "It's expensive to release something theatrically, so sometimes it makes sense to treat it as a direct-to-DVD premiere."

How expensive? Hey, glad you asked. A wide-release theatrical flick can cost more than $1 million just to market. Going straight to DVD eliminates that cost. Just ask Ben Affleck, whose new Man About Town hit DVD shelves in February.

"You can market a straight-to-DVD project for less than $100,000 if you want," my marketer says.

There is one other reason for a big-name movie to skip the googleplex—and that's if it's just like one that is already in theaters. Want an example? Check out a familiar-sounding title called Curse of the Zodiac—coming soon, only to DVD.