‘Memento’: Not ‘Too Smart’ for Profits

With visions of mainstream crossover hits like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Traffic” dancing in their heads, independent film companies are increasingly behaving like major studios in passing up worthy but challenging films. The latest example: the new cult hit “Memento,” Christopher Nolan’s enigmatic thriller.

As with last year’s similarly unconventional surprise British hit “Croupier,” “Memento” is the kind of edgy fare that was once the hallmark of independent cinema. In the current climate, films like these struggle to be picked up by independent companies, which are busily booking upscale urban theaters with more predictable movies such as the romantic comedy “Bridget Jones’s Diary” or the latest Merchant/Ivory period piece, “The Golden Bowl.”

“Memento” was warmly received at the Toronto and Sundance film festivals and generated glowing reviews, catapulting Nolan into the mainstream. (He’s now directing “Insomnia” starring Al Pacino, Hillary Swank and Robin Williams.) However, when it was shown to distributors as early as February 2000, “everyone just said it was too smart,” says marketing-distribution consultant Bob Berney, who was approached soon after by “Memento” financiers Newmarket Films, which decided to self-distribute the film. (Berney has since joined the fledgling IFC Films as its senior marketing and distribution executive.)

“Too smart,” like “arty,” has entered the film industry lexicon as a pejorative description. The story of “Memento,” about a man (Guy Pearce) with short-term memory loss, is told in reverse--a complicated premise to be sure--which in part explains distributors’ reluctance. But audiences have been enthusiastic, and the $5-million film has grossed more than $8.5 million in less than two months, including $1.2 million this weekend. It has slowly grown to just over 400 screens and will add another 60 to 80 screens next weekend. It has scored not only in major cities--especially New York--but in the suburbs as well, says Berney.

“Memento” opened March 16 in 10 theaters and didn’t expand beyond approximately 250 until its seventh week of release. In that time, Berney saw a pattern emerging as the film did strong business both in art houses and more mainstream theaters. He saw an opportunity to expand the film to “second tier” cities like Portland and Phoenix, which don’t usually embrace this kind of film.

“The numbers both urban and suburban have been surprisingly strong and consistent.” In its seventh weekend, the film was in 326 theaters, grossing about $1.3 million. Berney plans to add as many as 50 more screens in the coming weeks.

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One of the secrets of its success has been a creative Internet site--https://www.otnemem.com, memento spelled backward--fashioned by Jonathan Nolan, the director’s brother, upon whose short story the film is based. Like the film, the site is a compendium of clues--notes, postcards, Polaroids--with which the Web surfer can interact and posit theories about the story in chat rooms.

“Memento” did receive a couple of distribution offers, one from Paramount Classics and another from the now-defunct Trimark, said Newmarket principal William Tyrer, but the sums offered were deemed too low, he says. As for everyone else, “they’re all looking for a film that will gross $25 million or more, rather than $10 million to $15 million,” he says.

Newarket, whose long-term plans include distributing its own films, saw “Memento” as an excellent opportunity to enter the fray. “It accelerated our plan, but we thought this film could reach the same audience that supported ‘The Usual Suspects’ and ‘The Spanish Prisoner,’ ” says Tyrer.

The company selected Berney, a veteran marketing and distribution executive, because of his work on “Happiness,” Todd Solondz’s dark comedy, which was originally supposed to have been released by October Films. When the company was acquired by Universal, the subject matter (which included pedophilia) was thought too controversial and it was handed back to its financiers, Good Machine. “Happiness” grossed about $3 million.

Berney began laying the groundwork for “Memento’s” release last July. Anticipating that the movie would receive upbeat reviews, Berney was confident of attracting at least the regular art house crowd. To expand the audience, he embarked on an aggressive radio-driven screening program aimed at upscale young adults with an emphasis on the college crowd.

“There really hasn’t been much for that audience in recent months except for teen comedies, and we saw a way to establish it as the hip, cool movie,” says Berney. One of the film’s stars, Joe Pantoliano, made numerous personal appearances at colleges, benefiting from his appearances in the latest season of “The Sopranos.”

Jonathan Nolan’s Web site, which he describes as a “video head game,” dovetailed perfectly with Berney’s strategy and was set up by New York site designers Electric Artists last July. “The way we tried to put it together was to let it stand as a work of its own,” explains Nolan.

When “Memento” opened in England and France last fall, the potential of the Web site became clear, engendering repeat business as viewers became intrigued with the characters and returned to the movie again and again.

“When I read the message boards, I saw that people took different bits of information from the site and interpreted them differently,” says Nolan. “ . . . It was gratifying to see that happen.”

Even with the busy summer season approaching, Berney expects to maintain a presence in major markets for months. “Memento” should end up grossing $10 million to $15 million.