This Little Film Went To Market

"Hey, you! Guess what's coming in only eight short months? A HUGE, action-packed, thrill ride of a movie starring Hollywood's biggest names! Don't forget! Wait, what if you forget? It's okay, we'll be sending Facebook ads and commercials and trailers on every site you visit and every actor will be promoting this film on every station and platform possible so there's no way you'll forget!"

I love a good big-budget, action blockbuster. Already this summer we've been gifted with such movies as X-Men: Apocolypse, Captain America: Civil War, Ghostbusters, and Star Trek: Beyond, with others still to come. But these types of movies seem to get all the love. This is due in large part to the big studios' massive marketing effort that bowls us all over like a tidal wave and washes us up in theater seats.

However, other great films are out there: independent films with lesser known (but wildly talented) actors and filmmakers and fantastic stories to tell. They're so much easier to miss, though, because the much smaller budget for production equates to smaller distribution, shorter viewing windows and a tiny allocation of funds for marketing.

I recently stumbled across a film called Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I ran across it because I was perusing the showtimes online for a different movie at a theater that tends to show more off the beaten path films. I watched the trailer and was intrigued by the story...and it didn't hurt that Sam Neill had a starring role. It was terrific. I highly recommend this film, and, apparently, so do many critics. But I almost missed it!

Hunt at least had some money to work with (a reported 3 million dollar budget) and a famous actor to tout. But if a film like that can slip by, how is a really low budget movie with no stars in it supposed to catch people and draw them in? You tell me. No, literally, you tell me about these movies and I'll try to do the same for you. In an age where toddlers have iPhones and you can get a college credit in Twitter, getting the word out about an incredible film shouldn't be too hard. So, let me know what amazing films you've seen and remember: when it comes to movies, there's no such thing as too small to see.