Aftershock gives Eli Roth new business model

Eli Roth says one of the best things about his new movie Aftershock is that it creates a “real, new business model” that could help independent films hold their own against studio blockbusters.

Roth co-wrote, produced and stars in the horror film about a group of people who are in a Chilean nightclub when a massive earthquake strikes, resulting in deadly chaos. It is inspired by real events that occurred after the South American country was hit by a magnitude 8.8 quake in 2010.

Roth has directed, produced and appeared in his share of big-budget films including The Man with the Iron Fists, Inglourious Basterds and his Hostel series, but in an interview Wednesday, he said he and co-writer/director Nicolas Lopez set out to make Aftershock in a different manner.

Roth said they decided, “instead of doing a $40 million [Dh 147 million] movie, let’s do this as a $2 million movie and see what we can do.”

They opted not to film in Hollywood but rather in Chile, where not many big movies are shot.

“So they’re not thinking about how to do stuff. They’re figuring it out. They don’t know that you need 10 people to do this job, so two people do it,” Roth said.

Aftershock was filmed with inexpensive SLR cameras fitted with very good lenses. Roth said the result was footage that looks just like what you see in a Spider-Man movie and that audiences couldn’t tell the difference. “You just need to know how to light, you need to know how to shoot, but the future is here and you don’t need all the bells and whistles that Hollywood thinks they need,” he said.

Roth noted that even the biggest blockbusters are in theatres for only weeks before they’re released on video. “So instead of spending $40 million in advertising, hoping it makes 80 million,” Aftershock is being released in theatres, iTunes and Video On Demand with minimal advertising, he said.