But what if you’ve got an art film—say, Chariots of Fire. Your job there is to spend as little as possible up front and pray that word of mouth will build. So you make maybe two prints, open behind Bloomingdale’s and in Westwood, and pray. Gradually, if the movie begins to work, you add a few more cities. If the movie doesn’t work, it disappears, and you haven’t spent a lot of money.
