Film Industry: Blinded By The Light case study

 Alezey

Blinded By The Light case study

Background reading and production research

Read the following interviews and features on Blinded By The Light:

1) What is the story behind the production of the film?

Blinded By The Light  is based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s real life growing up in Luton in the 1980s. It shows how discovering Bruce Springsteen’s music helped him understand his identity and become a writer. Manzoor worked with Gurinder Chadha to turn his experiences into a film.

2) What was the audience reaction to the film?

The audience's reactions to the film were very positive, and the most common responses to the film were in the ways that audiences found personal connections to the story and they had connected emotionally with the story, even people who weren’t British or didn’t know Bruce Springsteen’s music. Manzoor was surprised by how strongly people responded, especially in America, and said viewers told him the film felt relatable and uplifting.

3) Why is the Sundance Film Festival such an important part of the film industry - particularly for lower budget films? 

 The Sundance Film Festival is important because it helps smaller, lower-budget films get noticed. These films usually don’t have big studios or lots of money for promotion, so Sundance gives them a platform. If a film gets a good reaction there, it can lead to distributors picking it up and the film reaching a wider audience.

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Funding and industry contexts

1) What was the budget for Blinded By The Light and which companies contributed to the production budget?

Blinded By The Light  had a budget of about $15 million. It was produced with money from many companies working together — mainly Levantine Films, Ingenious Media, and Bend It Films.

2) Research the Bend It Networks website. What other films and projects has the company been involved with?

The company has worked on a range of films, TV shows and theatre projects. Some of these include:

• Beecham House (TV series)
• Viceroy’s House (film)
• Bend It Like Beckham The Musical 

3) Research Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema on the Warners website here. Summarise the history of New Line Cinema in a short paragraph.

New Line Cinema started in 1967 as a small film distribution company in the USA. It later became successful by making popular films and franchises. In the 1990s, it was bought by larger media companies and eventually became part of Warner Bros. In 2008, New Line Cinema was merged into Warner Bros. but still exists as a production label.

4) Read this Variety interview with director Gurinder Chadha explaining how the project came about - including budget details. What attracted Gurinder Chadha to the project and how did she manage to get the film made? 

Gurinder Chadha was attracted to the project because it told a personal story and related to her as she dealt with the immigrant experience and about identity, family, and how music can change someone’s life, which links to her previous films. She liked that Sarfraz Manzoor’s story was real and relatable. To get the film made, she worked closely with Manzoor especially based on his book, and used her production company Bend It Networks. She also liked Springsteen's music, It took almost a decade from Chadha’s chance meeting with Springsteen, but she secured the rights to Bruce Springsteen’s music. She also brought together funding from different production companies, and the film’s success at Sundance helped it get wider distribution.

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Distribution

Read this Deadline feature on the distribution deal for Blinded By The Light and answer the following questions: 

1) Which company won the distribution rights after the all-night auction and for how much?

 Warner Bros (through New Line Cinema) won the distribution rights after an all-night auction, and it was $15 million.

2) Which other companies were rumoured to be bidding for the distribution rights?

 Other companies that were rumoured to be bidding for the distribution rights were  Fox Searchlight Lionsgate and Sony.

3) According to the article, what was the 'allure' of Blinded By The Light?

The article says the main appeal was that the film was a feel-good, emotional story based on a true life, used Bruce Springsteen’s music, and had strong audience reactions at Sundance, making it seem commercially safe despite being low-budget.

4) UK distribution was secured by eOne Entertainment. In 2023 eOne was bought by Lionsgate. Read this press release on Lionsgate acquiring eOne Entertainment and write one reason for the deal. 

One reason for the deal was that Lionsgate wanted to expand its film and TV library (6500 film and TV titles), especially internationally, by gaining access to eOne’s content.

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Marketing, promotion and reception

1) What does the trailer suggest regarding genre and the potential audience pleasures of Blinded By The Light?

The trailer suggests the film is a coming-of-age genre with some comedy. It shows audience pleasures such as music, emotional moments, humour and an inspiring story about identity linking to music (Bruce Springsteen) and growing up, which makes the film uplifting and enjoyable.

2) What TV shows and websites did interviews with writer, director and stars of Blinded By The Light? Why are interviews a good way to promote a new film release? 

Interviews appeared on TV chat shows and entertainment programmes, as well as websites like The Guardian, Variety and Deadline. Interviews are a good way to promote a film because they create publicity, help audiences understand the film, and allow viewers to connect with the people behind it

3) What did film posters for Blinded By The Light feature and where did they appear? You may need to research this on Google Images. 

The posters featured the main character with Bruce Springsteen lyrics, bright colours, and references to music. They appeared on billboards, bus stops, cinemas, and online platforms.

4) What social media accounts did Blinded By The Light use to promote the film? 

The film used Instagram, Twitter (X), Facebook and YouTube to promote trailers and posters.

5) Select three posts from the Blinded By The Light Instagram page and explain how they promote the film.

6) Go to the Bend It Networks YouTube channel. How does Gurinder Chadha introduce the channel?  What other content is on the Bend It Networks YouTube channel?

Gurinder Chadha introduces the channel as a place where Bend It Networks shares their work. She explains that it includes their films and projects. The channel also has trailers, clips, interviews and behind-the-scenes content.

7) Look at the box office figures for Blinded By The Light from The Numbers website. How much did it make at the box office and why do you think it was largely unsuccessful?

The film made around $19,529,914 worldwide. It was largely unsuccessful because it had limited marketing, faced strong competition, for example a film called 'Yesterday' was also released around the same time and had the same concepts. The film mostly appealed to a niche audience.

8) Click on the tabs with further information (such as 'News', 'Box Office' and 'Video Sales'). Copy and paste some more statistics or sales figures to add to your understanding of the film's financial performance.