"Friday Night Lights" - foreign distribution?

Cafe Society
1

I just saw (and enjoyed greatly) Friday Night Lights - and the thought occurred to me that this is such a peculiarly American subject matter; did the producers even bother releasing this overseas?

And if so – did any of our non-USA Dopers see it? What did you think (“wow, Americans are crazy…”)

2

I wonder if they changed the title to something more generic? After all, “Hoosiers” was renamed “Best Shot” for foreign release because the filmmakers were worried that no one outside the U.S. would know what a Hoosier is.

3

It will get released in foreign markets, but it probably won’t do very well. Producers have some rules of thumb about which American movies are hits overseas and which aren’t. Here are some of those rules (from the book Pop Culture Wars by William D. Romanowski):

These do well in foreign markets:

  1. Animation
  2. Movies that were major hits in the U.S.
  3. Movies with major stars
  4. Action/adventure films
  5. Sex/exploitation films
  6. Art-house-type films

These don’t do well:

  1. Purely American themes (that would require a detailed knowledge of American culture or history)
  2. Films with entirely black casts and themes
  3. Westerns
  4. Light comedies
  5. Sports films

So as a sports film with themes that aren’t easy to explain to someone outside of the U.S., Friday Night Lights isn’t expected to do well outside the U.S.

4

The IMDB says the film will be released in Australia in March 2005, the UK in May 2005, and Finland in June 2005.

5

I’m American, and although I liked the movie, I have to admit I thought “Wow, Texans are crazy.” It’s hard for me to believe that people can get so excited over high school football.

6

Then again, nobody in the US knows what a hoosier is, either. :wink:

7

That was my reaction exactly, but I imagine non-Americans will tar all of us with the same brush.

Looks like this question will have to wait a few months.