One of the few noteworthy mid-budget successes from last year, “A Man Called Otto,” had a very surprising $845,000 at the Tuesday Box-Office. Its cumulative domestic total now stands at close to $60 million.
How did this happen? Two very specific reasons: word of mouth and Tom Hanks. At some point late last December, Sony Pictures realized that ‘Otto’ was not going to be an Oscar contender and decided to open the film to a wider audience.
The result is a film that has been genuinely embraced by audiences all over the country. It has a 7.6 on IMDB, 95% RT audience score and an A CinemaScore.
A recent Deadline piece revealed that Sony worked extra hard to win over audiences outside the L.A./NYC crowd. Smart move. ‘Otto’ has been an especially big success in middle American markets, its $50 million budget easily surpassed by a near $100 million worldwide tally.
What the film also proves is that there is still an audience for adult-oriented dramas. Just to be clear, not necessarily Oscar contenders, or critically-acclaimed film, but rather audience-skewing mid-budget fare. The fact that ‘Otto’ stars Tom Hanks also helped. An old school “movie star”, although a dying breed, still means something to audiences.
Take for example “Ticket to Paradise”, Starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, one of the few mid-budget surprises from last year. It ended up grossing around the same amount as ‘Otto,’ and also received (very) mixed reviews. That didn’t matter to adult audiences, since they came out for it purely based, again, on word of mouth, Clooney/Roberts, and the enticing trailer.
‘Otto’ got zero Oscar nominations and reviews have been very mixed. That doesn’t matter anymore. The divide between critics and moviegoers is as vast as it’s ever been.
What we’re witnessing is, maybe, the death of the “Oscar movie,” but also the semi-resurgence of the star-led mid-budget audience crowd pleaser.