HOLLYWOOD — If “La La Land,” the retro musical about two artists who choose fame over love, wins best picture, will Wall Street reward its backer, Lionsgate?
As of Friday, the stock is at $26.09, on par with where it was when the movie opened wide last Dec. 9.
The financial backers of the project besides Lionsgate include the little-known Black Label Media and TIK Films, a subsidiary of Hunan TV, which has a film finance pact with Lionsgate.
The movie has so far pulled in $339 million worldwide on a production budget of $30 million. That’s a huge success for Lionsgate, which had sputtered after winning big with young adult movies “Twilight” and “Divergent.”
Meanwhile, one producer is kicking himself for not tying down “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle.
Jason Blum, who financed Chazelle’s first movie, “Whiplash,” missed out on his second after believing he had it in the bag.
Blum told Recode’s Peter Kafka earlier this month he won’t be at the Oscars because he lost the director to Lionsgate. Blum could have had a producer’s credit on the best picture nominee, which stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
Blum said: “ I threw every bone in my body going after the movie … and we lost … and it kills me … I’m actually going to New York this year for the Oscars because I can’t take it.”
Still, the Blumhouse Productions boss has a consolation prize. The firm’s horror flick, “Get Out,” opened to $1.8 million box office on Friday and was poised to do well this weekend. The movie cost $4.5 million to make.
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