‘The Canyons’ Producer Rips Hollywood for ‘Concealing’ Box Office Data

“Hollywood has long had a policy of concealing data, presumably, in part, because to reveal it would be to invite filmmakers/profit participants to demand what they are contractually owed,” Pope wrote in an email addressed to Schrader, “Canyons” writer Bret Easton Ellis and IFC Films executives. “Digital is surging and will eventually match and likely exceed domestic box office which is a mature platform with little growth, thus at some point you would think there would have to be a method for accurate reporting of all downloads, streaming, etc., in some systematic, comprehensive fashion.”

Pope was not objecting to IFC, whom he told TheWrap has been “great to work with.”  Instead, Pope was lambasting a system that inhibits filmmakers from getting a full and clear account of their movies’ financial performance.

“The Canyons” debuted on video-on-demand Aug. 2 — the same day as it opened in theaters in Los Angeles and New York. Pope said that while he got numbers from IFC, “they are only partially reported, so it is hard to get a comprehensive, accurate picture.” Though he knows the movie has made its money back, he would like to know even more “especially in the digital age in which consumer behavior is so easily tracked and stored by everyone from the government to online shoe retailers.”

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