‘Nickel Boys’ Director Wants $10 Million for Next Film: “It’s Not Really a Return"

Who has seen RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys”? I’d be curious to read your thoughts on the film in the comments section below.

The Amazon/MGM film didn’t do much money at the box office, but was acclaimed by critics and managed to somehow snatch up Oscar-nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Despite the Oscar noms, it’s very hard to find many big studios willing to bankroll such a risk-taking and experimental filmmaker as Ross. He knows that, and telling THR that financing on his next film would have to be “philanthropic” and not guaranteed a financial return.

I think I’ve made enough films for people to say that I can make things relatively well. So I’m asking someone to give me $10 million for two projects. Both of them, I think, have long cultural lives, but it has to be philanthropic because it’s not really a return. But I think they’re deep in meaning and can change a lot of people’s view on the world.

He added that the potential projects have been “written out,” and he’s been “thinking about them for [five, six] years.” The goal is to “wait for someone to trust” in financing them, philanthropically, of course.

He’s not kidding. “Nickel Boys” had a $23M budget and only grossed $3M worldwide, and that’s despite the acclaim and Oscar nods. In other words, it bombed hard. It’s already a damn-near miracle that Amazon/MGM decided to finance such a project, and they should be commended for that.

Amazon/MGM did the best they could with a film that was never going to be an easy sell. The majority of “Nickel Boys” was shot in first-person POV, with perspective alternating between the two leads throughout. There were also some sequences of fixed-camera third-person POV shots. The film was in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and there were several sequences of stock footage, recordings of historical events, and even snippets of other films interspersed throughout.