IFO premieres Joe Swanberg’s “Nights and Weekends,” his fourth feature, on Video On Demand Sept. 28 before its theatrical debut Oct. 10 at the IFC Center in New York, followed by an expansion to undetermined additional cities.
“With VOD coming before theatrical, they’re recognizing that’s where a much bigger group of people sees movies,” Swanberg said.
IFC did far better with VOD than theatrical on Swanberg’s 2007 film, “Hannah Takes the Stairs,” grossing $150,000 from 25,000 $6 viewings vs. just $23,000 box office.
“They were testing the waters with ?Hannah,'” Swanberg said. “This time around they’re going for a more limited theatrical with fewer weeklong runs, maybe trying to do more one-night university screenings.”
In “Nights and Weekends,” Swanberg and Greta Gerwig (of “Hannah”) co-star as a long-distance couple facing a pregnancy, and collaborated on improvisational writing, directing and editing.
Baumbach helped conceive “Alexander.” now in post
As Swanberg gears up for “Nights and Weekends” release, he’s into post-production on “Alexander,” a romantic feature produced by Noah Baumbach (“Margot at the Wedding,”) and Swanberg’s regular producer, Anish Savjani of Film Science.
He had Emailed Baumbach to express his admiration for “Margot at the Wedding,” and learned that Baumbach was a fan of “Hannah.” He helped conceive “Alexander” and has been working with Swanberg on the editing.
