NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik鈥檚 mind when he was Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.
鈥淲hen we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized,鈥� says Cheslik.
And yet, has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik鈥檚 film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.
鈥淗undreds of Beavers鈥� is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.
No one would call 鈥淗undreds of Beavers鈥� expensive looking, but it鈥檚 far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of , and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and 鈥淣aked Gun.鈥�
At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, 鈥淗undreds of Beavers鈥� has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.
After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, 鈥淗undreds of Beavers鈥� has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.) More than half of its approximately $500,000 in ticket sales came after the movie went to video-on-demand.
Daniel Scheinert, the 鈥淓verything Everywhere All at Once,鈥� recently called 鈥淗undreds of 鈥淏eavers鈥� That bold pronouncement, which ricocheted around film blogs, might seem extreme for a movie about a guy wearing a comically large beaver hat.
But in a shrinking movie industry, DIY microbudget filmmaking may increasingly be left to fill some of the void left by risk-averse, corporate-driven Hollywood.
鈥淚 hope people can stop shooting things to make them look like commercials and just get back to more of the nitty gritty and letting your imagination flow,鈥� says Tews, who also co-wrote the movie with Cheslik. 鈥淚 just hope we stop bowing down to Hollywood and thinking they鈥檙e the gold standard. Because they just aren鈥檛.鈥�
The year-to-date box office in North America is down 11% from last year and about 25% from before the pandemic. More movies are making a tiny impact in theaters; according to Franchise Entertainment Research, 41 wide releases in 2024 have grossed less than $3 million 鈥� nearly three times the amount in 2019.
The costs not just to make wide-release films but to market them has greatly shifted what even indie distributors are willing to back. Just to get eyeballs on which carries a $250 million budget, Paramount Pictures took the extraordinary step of running a trailer of the film simultaneously , including TV networks, radio stations and digital outlets. For even the biggest movies, it鈥檚 hard to get people鈥檚 attention.
In such an environment, where the expense of making and marketing a movie is potentially prohibitive for everything but the safest of bets, more filmmakers are questioning the economics. That鈥檚 especially because after last year鈥檚 strikes, movie production hasn鈥檛 rebounded. In many remain out of work.
Brady Corbet, director of a 3 1/2-hour epic shot in VistaVision, for less than $10 million, has preached that smaller budgets don鈥檛 have to mean less artistic ambition. Sean Baker, whose breakthrough film 鈥淭angerine鈥� was shot with iPhones, has argued movie budgets can come down without sacrificing what鈥檚 on the screen. His $6 million 鈥淎nora鈥� is one of the year鈥檚 most acclaimed films.
鈥淩ight now, it鈥檚 panic in LA,鈥� Baker . 鈥淚鈥檓 like: We don鈥檛 have to make films for that much. They don鈥檛 have to cost as much.鈥�
鈥淗undreds of Beavers鈥� is a more micro example, but it was likewise made with a strong belief in the big screen. On Dec. 5, the movie will begin an encore tour in theaters, at some 70 locations. That鈥檚 the widest release yet for 鈥淗undreds of Beavers,鈥� nearly a year after it opened. They鈥檙e calling it 鈥淎 Northwoods Christmas.鈥�
It鈥檚 a victory tour (with a Blu-ray release to follow) for 鈥淗undreds of Beavers,鈥� a barnstorming indie hit that Cheslik hopes shows aspiring filmmakers that the same kind of goofy inventiveness that goes into a TikTok video can be channeled into a movie.
鈥淵ou still can do whatever you want,鈥� Cheslik says. 鈥淣o one鈥檚 going to stop you if you take a phone and make a 90-minute timeline instead of a 30-second timeline."
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For more on how 鈥淗undreds of Beavers was made, check out:
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
