“Super” Hype: How An Indie Film Beat the Distribution Sales Slump

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By all rights Super has had everything going for it. Director and writer James Gunn had a large nerd-based following from his previous film Slither, who were eagerly awaiting his next movie. The film was made for $2 million, ridiculously cheap considering that the movie stars actors Rainn Wilson, Liv Tyler, Ellen Page, Kevin Bacon and Nathan Fillion. The cast and crew were eager to tweet and do promotional appearances despite the huge pay cut they had to take.

[youtube id =”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPOihlB7f-Y”%5D

“Nobody complained about how little they were getting paid,” Bailey said with a hint of disbelief in her voice. “There was no big deal to get any of the cast to come to Comic Con or to Downtown. I have no clue how this happened but it’s been a lovely experience. I would work with them in heartbeat.“

Super is about a disgruntled ex-husband named Frank (Wilson), whose wife Sarah (Tyler) left him for their local drug dealer Jacques (Bacon). With Libby (Page), a comic book store clerk ally at his side, Frank becomes the Crimson Bolt, a vigilante superhero whose only purpose is getting his due revenge on Jacques. It’s drawn many comparisons plotwise to Kick-Ass and comedy-wise to Observe and Report. Not exactly huge blockbuster material when you look at the films it’s compared to, but for some reason from production to acquisition, it only took Super an unprecedented one year.

Bailey points out that that she normally sees a two to four year lag to when she can pay her investors back, but this film had some supernatural force powering it. Day One: She met with co-producer Ted Hope. Day Two: She read the script. Three months later: Shooting had begun. “What happened with Super was totally unique and never happened before to me. There must be a little bit of magic dust on it,” she said.

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