How the 'Bleep' Did They Do It?

The independent film "What the Bleep Do We Know?" asks such weighty questions as "What is reality?" and "Who am I?"

To which some people in Hollywood have added a third query: How did this little film, out of nowhere and ignored by the big studios, sell $7.4 million of tickets?

With the help of 400 practicing yogis, for one thing. "What the Bleep," a mixture of documentary, fiction and philosophy, has done far better than the usual independent movie and continues to sell an average of $500,000 to $600,000 in tickets each week. ("Bleep" is really part of the title.) The film has ties to a spiritual group, and mainstream studios turned it down. But like the makers of two other, much bigger hits this year, the producers of this one found a way to use connections to a political or spiritual constituency to advantage.

Marlee Matlin stars in the independent film 'What the Bleep Do We Know'?

Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," turned down by major studios, became the third-biggest box-office hit of the year. Disney refused to release Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" but after it was distributed independently it set records at the box office for a documentary. In both cases, the filmmakers used nontraditional marketing methods, reaching out through church groups or over the Internet to build a core group of supporters who would spread the word.

"What the Bleep" tells the story of a woman named Amanda who finds herself overwhelmed by existential questions, and the narrative is interspersed with talking-head interviews with scientists and mystics. The three directors attended the Ramtha School of Enlightenment in Yelm, Wash. According to Ramtha's Web site, the group's leader, JZ Knight, says she channels the spirit of a 35,000-year-old warrior named Ramtha, who teaches his "unique perspective from which to view the mystery of life." (Shirley MacLaine boosted Ms. Knight's career when she wrote about her in a 1985 book, "Dancing in the Light.") The filmmakers say the Ramtha School didn't finance the film and doesn't receive its proceeds, although Ms. Knight is featured prominently in the movie. The film doesn't go into detail about the beliefs of the Ramtha group. (Its video, available on the Internet, includes scenes of spiritual exercises such as students sitting in a field, or wearing blindfolds as they try to locate a particular piece of paper.)

SCIENCE AND SPIRIT Scientific and religiously themed films often draw critical praise but small audiences -- with "The Passion," of course, a big exception. Here are some recent ones: FILM/RELEASE DATE COMMENTS Koyaanisqatsi 1983 A documentary warning of the dangers of overdevelopment A Brief History of Time 1992 The theories of physicist Stephen Hawking; $2.3 million of U.S. tickets sold Baraka 1993 More brooding about the planet's fate, $1.3 million in U.S. tickets The Passion of the Christ 2004 Gross in U.S. theaters: $370.3 million Sources: Boxofficemojo.com, IMDB

The movie is the brainchild of Will Arntz, a 54-year-old physicist-turned-software entrepreneur who made millions by selling two software companies during the Internet boom. With his co-creators, Mr. Arntz came up with the idea for the movie and spent $5 million to make it. He has also put in $2.5 million of his own money to market it. The film stars Marlee Matlin, who won a Best Actress Oscar for the 1986 film "Children of a Lesser God." The head of Ms. Matlin's production company, Jack Jason, says that the actress didn't know about the connection between the Ramtha School and the filmmakers until after the movie was made, and that she "didn't think it came off as Ramtha propaganda."

After "What the Bleep" was completed, no major studio offered to acquire it. Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, which sent a representative to a screening earlier this year, says he regrets not having picked up the film for distribution. "I've been studying this one," he says, by tracking the box office and marketing. He calls it a "phenomenon" film that "connects to a facet of society that people have forgotten or missed." But he says a distributor might have responded if the filmmakers had provided enough information about who would be interested in seeing the film. The producers of "What the Bleep" say they did provide a document with marketing information at the screening.

While studios were saying no, the filmmakers submitted "What the Bleep" to film festivals in an effort to boost interest, but still no distributor bit. So in order to build an audience, Mr. Arntz convinced the local theater in Yelm to give one of its 10 screens to the film. The Ramtha School virtually guaranteed an audience, and "What the Bleep" ran for seven weeks late last winter.

After the run in Yelm, Mr. Arntz tried to get the Bagdad Theater in Portland, Ore., to book the film. (The theater itself shows up in the picture.) When theater manager Peter Boicurt saw parts of the film on a DVD, he recalls thinking: "Are you kidding? This is goofy." But he went ahead anyway. He told Mr. Arntz the film would have to pull in more than 1,600 people the first week to keep it on the screen; 4,500 showed up. The movie remained in the theater for 18 weeks, breaking the previous five-week record.

Small Distributor

That caught the attention of small distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films, run by the son of the legendary movie producer. The distributor had just had its own surprise hit -- "Super Size Me," a documentary about the effects of an all-fast-food diet. "There's never been a film" for the New Age community, says Meyer Gottlieb, Goldwyn's president.

Meanwhile, Mr. Arntz started working with a marketing concern that specializes in the New Age audience. Visioneering Group of Los Angeles put ads in publications such as the Yogi Times, and rented out a theater in Los Angeles to screen it for 400 practicing yogis. The company also organized screenings at some churches in the New Thought movement, which describes itself as a "practically oriented spirituality" that is "mostly Christian in background." Visioneering recruited teams of paid workers and volunteers over the Web to distribute widely posters, fliers and postcards. The film is now in 144 theaters nationwide.

Now, Hollywood is watching -- literally. Peter Guber, the former head of Sony Pictures and producer of "Batman," said he first heard about "What the Bleep" from his wife, who is very active in yoga. He requested a copy of the film and screened it at his home theater (which has a 30-foot screen) with 26 guests. "Darn interesting and thought-provoking," he says.

Write to John Lippman at john.lippman@wsj.com

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