‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ (2012) – Case Study

“Everything will be all right in the end… if it’s not all right then it’s not yet the end.”

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a British comedy-drama film directed by John Madden and was released on 24th February 2012.  The film follows a group of retirees from England who decide to move to the infinitely more interesting, as well as cheaper, land of India to live out their retirement.  They are enticed by advertisements for the ‘newly refurbished’ Marigold Hotel, imagining a life of leisure in new and exotic surroundings, however the hotel is run down and dilapidated, a shell of its former self.  Although their new home is not quite as they had imagined it would be, the retirees find that life and love can begin again when they let go of their pasts.

Production budget: $10,000,000

Genres: Comedy/Drama

Media Ownership

Director: John Madden

Producers: Graham Broadbent & Peter Czernin

Executive producer: Jonathan King

Production company:

• Blueprint Pictures
• Participant Media

Distribution company: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Producers Broadbent and Czernin got inspiration for this film in a book released in 2004 by Deborah Moggach of a similar plot line, which was originally called These Foolish Things, but was then renamed to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel after the release of the movie.

The cast contained acclaimed and popular actresses such as Judie Dench and Maggie Smith, which helped boost the popularity of the film amongst bigger fan bases.  Dev Patel also starred, who was still relatively well known for his role in Slumdog Millionaire.

Box Office

Opening weekend gross profit:

UK – £2,222,0000
USA – $737,0000

Worldwide lifetime gross profit: $136,000,000

Marketing

Due to the target audience of the film (women over 50) there was no online marketing strategy.

A trailer was released prior to the films premier and was shown on television and in cinemas months in advance.

The film producers believed word of mouth and interest in the cast would be some of the main forms of marketing

New Technologies

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel did not have a large production budget and because of this little new technology was used in the production process.  Due to the target audience being predominantly over 50, little new technology was also used in the marketing and distribution process.  As a result of this the film was more heavily and carefully marketed in places that the target audience would see it, such as releasing trailers on television and in cinemas; there was less of a marketing strategy including social media as there would be for a film aimed at a younger target audience.

It was released on both DVD and Blu-Ray, as well as being made available to buy and rent from iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.

Digital Distribution

The film was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures and premiered in the UK in 504 cinemas on 24th February 2013.

The film was released in cinemas in the USA two months after premiering in the UK, and only showed in 27 cinemas.

It was also shown at the Glasgow Film Festival on 17th February 2015 prior to the films nationwide theatrical distribution.

It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray several months after after the theatrical release, and even though its target audience was predominately over 50, it was still released on various VOD  services, such as iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was unfortunate enough to be released in the same year as some rather big and eagerly awaited movies.  It came out at the same time Avengers Assemble, the first time the Marvel superheroes had been seen together on the big screen (so naturally it was going to be popular), and The Woman In Black, the film adaptation of the horror book.  It was also released not long before the first Hunger Games, a film that got a lot of marketing and media coverage due to the success of the book series by Suzanne Collins upon which it was based on.  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel  actually came second in the UK, in terms of money made on its opening weekend, to The Woman In Black, proving that even though it was competing against other popular films, it was still watched by a large amount of people.  This is probably due to the targeted audiences of the films.  Avengers and Woman In Black attracted and were targeted at predominately younger audiences due to their content and the fact that they were both rated 12; more young people were likely to watch them.  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on the other hand, had an older target audience of people, mainly women, over the age of 50, due to its content and the fact that it was about elderly retirees; young children or teenagers are less likely to watch a film like this in general, especially when there is one about superheroes or ghosts on hand.