This Oscar-Winning Best Picture Almost Went Straight to DVD

The Big Picture

• Slumdog Millionaire
  almost went straight to home video due to the decline of arthouse cinema in the late 2000s.
• Warner Bros. initially considered sending
  Slumdog Millionaire
  straight to home video due to a lack of confidence in its commercial prospects.
• Fox Searchlight saved
  Slumdog Millionaire
  by acquiring the distribution rights and promoting it for the awards season, leading it to become an Oscar-winning hit.

In its theatrical run, Slumdog Millionaire fulfilled every dream the producers of an independent movie could have for their passion project. Not only did this movie sweep the Oscars (including scoring a Best Picture win), but it was also an enormous box office hit. In the United States alone, Slumdog Millionaire made $141.3 million, while it grossed an additional $242.4 million in international territories. Taking in $383.8 million on just a $14 million budget, the film was an incredible success story and the second-biggest title ever for Fox Searchlight Pictures (now known as Searchlight Pictures). Considering its staggering achievements financially, it’s remarkable to remember that the big-screen run for Slumdog Millionaire (and by proxy its Oscar successes) almost never happened.

For quite some time, it seemed almost certain that Slumdog Millionaire would be heading straight for the world of home video. In 2008, there were no streaming services to dump films on and the Academy was incredibly strict about theatrical titles being the only ones that could compete for the Oscars. The outcome for Slumdog Millionaire in the U.S. was looking incredibly bleak. It took getting transferred to another film studio for SlumdogMillionaire to get an assured theatrical release, a maneuver that allowed it to become a pop culture phenomenon. Slumdog Millionaire’s eventual fate at the box office is clear, but what’s less obvious is why it was once destined to go straight to Wal-Mart shelves.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Almost Got Capsized by the Late 2000s Indie Woes

The late 2000s was an era dominated by radio airings of Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” and Michael Schumacher making sports headlines worldwide. This era was great for guys like Powter and Schumacher, but it wasn’t so grand for arthouse theatrical releases in the United States. In 2006, only five limited-release titles cracked $20 million domestically, while only 12 (including the super-indie Christian football drama Facing the Giants) exceeded the $10 million mark. That was down from the 13 limited-release titles breaking $10 million in 2005and way below the 18 that beat that threshold in 2002. However, 2007 rebounded to delivering 15 limited releases that grossed over $10 million domestically, but studio executives were still growing wary of the world of arthouse cinema.

In 2008, with an economic recession bearing down on the entire world, conglomerates began to tighten their belts, with cost-cutting procedures affecting arthouse studios first and most painfully. This led to a slew of tragic events befalling the world of American arthouse cinema. Paramount Vantage was shut down in June 2008 despite having its name on two Best Picture nominees from the then-most recent Academy Awards ceremony. This came just a month after the closure of Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse, two divisions that functioned as the arthouse brands of Warner Bros. Pictures.

The loss of these two arthouse studios came as Warner Bros. Pictures was consolidating all of its cinematic operations under one roof. Sibling company New Line Cinema had been absorbed into Warner Bros. earlier in 2008 and now these arthouse labels would be following suit. This was a devastating development that, paired with eventual news of Paramount Vantage’s demise, promised a loss of countless potential new releases for arthouse theaters. Something else affected by this mayhem? Slumdog Millionaire. The film had been acquired for domestic distribution by Warner Independent Pictures in August 2007, nearly a year before the label was destroyed.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Was Saved From Direct-to-Video Hell

Warner Independent Pictures was launched in 2004, with Slumdog Millionaire being the second production that saw the arthouse studio collaborating with British outfit FilmFour (following the 2008 remake of Funny Games). Warner Independent Pictures was just a domestic distributor for this Danny Boyle directorial effort, with a slew of British companies offering up the primary directing financing for the movie. This would end up being a critical element in determining the release trajectory of Slumdog Millionaire. There were other companies involved in this production who had ambitions of seeing the feature hit the silver screen. If Slumdog Millionaire’s fate was entirely in the hands of Warner Bros., there would’ve been way fewer external variables preventing its once-inevitable direct-to-video debut.

At the time of Warner Independent Pictures closing, the only major films it had left to release were Towelhead and Slumdog Millionaire, the latter of which was originally set for a November 2008 debut. By August 2008, though, Warner Bros. Pictures was angling to sell off the various Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse movies it had inherited after shutting down those outfits. The company behind massive tentpoles like The Dark Knight just wasn’t interested in using its resources to launch a platform title like Slumdog Millionaire. The Los Angeles Times would later report that Warner Bros. had become so disillusioned with the commercial prospects of Slumdog Millionaire that it seriously considered sending it straight to home video.

In 2008, the physical media market was still so profitable that Warner Bros. was making several major live-action films for DVD, including the Get Smart spin-off Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control. Dumping Slumdog Millionaire to home video would’ve fit right in with the studio’s confidence in exclusive home video titles in this era. Just before this shockingly plausible plan took effect though, a savior stepped up to the plate. At the end of August 2008, Fox Searchlight secured distribution rights to Slumdog Millionaire. The plan was for the two studios to share distribution over the feature, though Fox Searchlight would get its logo first and foremost on the title and end up being the studio primarily associated with this Oscar darling.

How Fox Searchlight Became the Right Home for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Initially, Slumdog Millionaire’s distribution woes weren’t quite over. In early September 2008, Fox Searchlight acquired the distribution rights to The Wrestler, a title that (with its big-name lead) seemed destined to overshadow the film. Would this arthouse studio now be able to lavish proper attention on director Danny Boyle’s latest feature? The Hollywood Reporter reported in September 2008 that Fox Searchlight was planning to give Slumdog Millionaire a very reserved theatrical launch in November, with the feature set to premiere in way fewer theaters than the 2007 indie hit, Juno. The same publication went on to reveal how Boyle used his positive connections with Fox Searchlight brass (in the wake of working with the studio on 28 Days Later and Sunshine) to persuade the studio to pick up Slumdog Millionaire before it went to DVD.

Quickly, Fox Searchlight began championing Slumdog Millionaire like crazy for award-season glory. While Warner Bros. had been set to abandon the feature because of its scale, Fox Searchlight was embracing this underdog movie as a tiny surprise motion picture. As a matter of fact, Fox Searchlight did such a strong job pushing this title to Oscar voters that it ended up becoming the very first title from this arthouse label to secure a Best Picture win at the Oscars. The rewards for Fox Searchlight over being the home of Slumdog Millionaire were endless…and none of them would’ve been possible if Warner Bros. had committed to its original direct-to-video plans for the feature.

Slumdog Millionaire is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

Watch on Hulu