In the U.S on December 26th 2008, the film earnt over an estonishing $4,000,000 in its first weekend. Over 29 weeks in the U.S and Canada, the film earned over $141,000,000. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the film earned around $52,000,000 and $184,000,000 in other international markets.
The film does not fit the catergory of Hollywood success, having no American accents, no big celebrities and a couple of special effects. The making of the film had a modest cost and wasn't even near the amount of a big Hollywood movie and as a mattter of fact was quite cheap. The film used a natural setting, instead of using a green screen and they also used small things for big scenes. An example is when the slum kid (who was the protagonist) had to lunge through a cesspool and then was covered in feaces (which as actually chocolate and peanut butter. Below is a short clip of the film).
What was their marketing strategy?
Well their film production company ‘Pathé’ (who also made the film available for viewing) focused on digital marketing such as television, radio and internet as an effective to build awareness of the film with the public. They also had a digital media agency called Tug to work with them raising awareness of the film in the UK and at the same time targeting at a particular audience such as Middle aged people/ Indian film lovers.
<< This is the actual trailer for the film.
A cinema in a more multi-cultural area for example: London Odeon or perhaps Croydon's ‘Vue’ cinema would be more likely to play this film than a cinema that is in a area where there aren’t different ethnicities. Cinema's that did show the film were seen more 'open minded' than those that didn't want to because they thought people wouldn't want to watch when in fact they might indeed be interested in it.
Below is a picture of one of the main characters' love life.
