Big winners unlikely to be box-office hits

IT is an open secret in the film industry that the award-winning films are not the top box-office earners.

And this weekend’s 10th SA Film and Television Awards (Saftas) at Midrand’s Gallagher Estate is likely to confirm this.

Recent box-office records showed Leon Schuster’s Schuks! Pay Back the Money was the highest-grossing film, earning more than R17-million, but it failed to get a single nomination at the Saftas or a mention at international film festivals.

“Nowhere in the world is there a correlation between award-winners and the box-office,” director Sara Blecher said.

“If you look at the Hollywood blockbusters, they are rarely the films that win awards.

“There are often more difficult, serious films that grapple with real issues rather than merely aim to entertain,” she said.

Blecher directed Dis Ek Anna and Ayanda , which collectively garnered the most Safta nominations, despite failing to crack the R5-million box-office mark.

The same goes for South African movies like, While You Weren’t Looking, Necktie Youth and Thina Sobabili.

Helen Kuun, of Indigenous Film Distribution, also said it was not unique to South Africa.

Weaker box-office performers were usually art-house films that appealed to a niche market.

“There’s a difference between what’s popular and what’s critically acclaimed,” Kuun said.

“The typically critically acclaimed films are often more arty. An art-house film it will always do better internationally.

“Most people don’t want to spend their money on art. Films are really about escapism.”