And I think that most of the time, why none of these absolutely STUNNING movies don’t succeed internationally is because we jolly well don’t know they exist. I only knew this film existed because a friend of mine who was living in New Zealand at the time posted a Facebook status about it.

I yearn everyday for some kind of worldwide channel for indie films and some kind of update mechanism so we as filmmakers know of each other’s existence. Twitter/YouTube is very Western-world-centric.

My two cents, though they are not worth much.

The introductory paragraph to this structure analysis posits that the failure at the box office internationally may be revealed in the story structure. However, there is no real science as to why a film succeeds or fails commercially at the box office. As William Goldman says in his book “Nobody knows anything.

The concluding notes provide some observations on the story structure and drama but don’t really address the introductions premise on box office failure.

I would also contend that the stakes for the characters are significant
– Boy & Rocky have no parental guidance, Dad comes back but looks like he is leaving
– Boy & Rocky witness the unsavoury world of adults, drugs, child beating, alcoholism et al
– Dad is slowly losing his appeal throughout the story, all he cares about is his money

What the film makers may have failed to do is to make the story dramatically engaging.

What do others think?