Lionsgate Decides To Redefine “Microbudget;” Casts Craig Robinson As Antichrist
Lionsgate is reducing their budgets, creating a slate of sub-2 million dollar movies. And to get media attention for it they’re pretending that these films are microbudget. Maybe they’re microbudget when compared to a Pirates of the Caribbean feature, but compared to real microbudget movies - which usually cost less than $100,000 (and mostly A LOT less than that) - Lionsgate’s 2 million cap is pretty luxurious.
But whatever. The upside here is that Lionsgate is committed to making 10 movies a year for these lower budgets, which is mostly a good thing. With less overhead the films can, conceptually, be more interesting and not have to hit so many quadrants. The more expensive a film is, the more it has to make (duh). The question I have is how these ‘microbudget’ films will be marketed - Lionsgate uses Paranormal Activity as their model, but Paramount spent many times the film’s budget on its marketing.
Lionsgate has announced three of these films, and the one I referenced in the headline is actually the least interesting. Craig Robinson plays The Antichrist in Rapturepalooza, a film set after the Rapture takes away half the world’s population. A couple tries to restart their sandwich cart business, but find trouble when the Antichrist decides he wants to take the woman as his bride.
Much more interesting is the terribly titled Gay Dude, about two best friends who decide to lose their virginity before graduating high school. It gets complicated when one of them comes out of the closet to the other. And finally there’s 6 Miranda Drive, from Wolf Creek director Greg McLean. In that one a family brings a supernatural force home with them after vacation, so it’s like a remake of that time the Brady Bunch went to Hawaii.
