“Garden State” / “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004)
2004 saw Fox Searchlight strike gold with a pair of comedies. They teamed with Miramax (who took worldwide rights) on the directorial debut of “Scrubs” star Zach Braff, and made back $26 million on an investment many times smaller than that. And then Fox Searchlight went solo for offbeat comedy “Napoleon Dynamite,” paying $3 million for the project, and making back $44 million for their trouble, with the film also proving a huge merchandising and home video phenomenon (even spawning a short-lived TV cartoon spin-off).
“Little Miss Sunshine” (2006)
What Miramax were to Sundance in the 1990s, Fox Searchlight were to the festival in the 2000s, and they struck gold with “Little Miss Sunshine.” It was always going to be an attractive buy, thanks to the presence of Steve Carell, who was becoming a major star thanks to “The Office” and the previous summer’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and a bidding war erupted. But it was Fox’s spin-off studio that landed it, with a record-breaking $10.5 million bid (plus 10% of the gross). And for once, a big paycheck paid off, with the film making $60 million in the U.S., and $100 million worldwide, as well as taking a Best Picture Oscar nomination (and winning for Screenplay and Supporting Actor).
“Once” (2007)
While it was on a smaller scale, Fox Searchlight managed a more impressive return on their investment the next year with “Once.” The Irish musical, made for only $100,000 by director John Carney, was the crowd-pleasing hit of the festival in 2007, but initially rights were picked up by Summit Entertainment. A few weeks after the festival, though, Fox Searchlight managed to snag it, paying a little under $1 million for North American rights. The film went on to take nearly ten times as much, as well as spawning a huge Broadway adaptation of the film.
“Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire” (2009)
Most of the films on this side of the list have been crowd-pleasers to one degree or another, so it’s all the more impressive that Lionsgate did so well with Lee Daniels‘ “Precious,” given that the film includes domestic abuse, incest and rape among its many button-pushing issues. They had to really fight for it, too. The company announced in February 2009, a month after the premiere, that they’d acquired the film for $5.5 million, only for Harvey Weinstein to claim that he’ d already struck a deal. By the time the two companies reached an accord in July 2010, the movie had gone on to take nearly $50 million at the domestic box office, as well as picking up six Oscar nominations, and winning two of the categories.
