TO BE COMPLETED BY CANDIDATE

Referring to the research you carried out for your chosen film, list the most important elements
about production, distribution and exhibition you have found out.

Film: Apocalypse Now

Year: 1979

Production details:
Apocalypse Now is an American war film directed and produced by Francis Coppola, and
written by John Milius. The screenplay came from the idea of changing Joseph Conrads novel
Heart of Darkness into the Vietnam War period. It was produced Omni Zoetrope, a privately
owned production and Distribution Company based in San Francisco. Francis Coppola is a well
known and renowned producer and director and is responsible for films like: The Godfather
and Patton; moreover, he has won six academy awards. Apocalypse Now had a budget of
32-31.5 million dollars, and it starred Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall and Martin Sheen. It was
edited by Richard Marks and Walter Murch. It was filmed in the fishing town of Baler in the
northern Philippines and ran into trouble when costly sets were destroyed by severe weather
and its lead actor suffered a heart attack on set.

Distribution details:
Apocalypse Now was released on May the 10th in the Cannes 1979 film festival winning the
Golden Palm, the highest prize awarded at the festival. It was later released in America on the
15th of August 1979. It was marketed with the tagline The horror...the horror, which was
effective as it created a sense of enigma and a hype about the film. The film experienced many
delays and as there was problems with not only the narration of the movie but also the
soundtrack. In May of 1979 Coppola postponed the opening until spring and released a work
in progress that was not well received. It was distributed by United Artists who were not keen
on showing an unfinished version of the film. It was finally released on August 15 th of 1979
several months later than originally planned.

Exhibition Details:
The film was initially shown in one theatre in New York City, Toronto and Hollywood grossing
$322,489 in the first five days of its release. It ran exclusively in these three theatres for four
weeks, before appearing in an additional 12, and then following that several hundred. It made
about $78 million domestically and about $150 million worldwide. It was in theatres for six
weeks. There were not special 3D or IM AX versions and it was not released on DVD into many
years later. Then in later years the film was released on August the 28 th in 1987, in the cities
that it did financially well in during 1979. Moreover, it was the first film to use 70mm Dolby
surround sound system and had to played in cinemas that had this feature, this meant that
there was only a limited number of cinemas capable of playing the film. Furthermore, the total
gross profit made in worldwide box office sales, from 1979 to the current day is $81,250,488
this far exceeds total domestic video sales, where the film made $8,204,300.