www.frombusinessweek.com — Christopher Mallick [pictured] made his living largely off porn for almost a decade, processing credit-card payments for sex-oriented websites. Now he’s sunk more than $20 million of his own money into a film about the experience.
“Middle Men,” featuring Luke Wilson and James Caan, opens tomorrow. The film, distributed by Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Vantage, tells the story of a businessman who runs a payment- processing site, falls for a 23-year-old porn star and gets mixed up with gangsters.
“It’s based on a true story of mine that has been highly fictionalized,” said Mallick, 51, who spent six years as chief executive officer of Paycom Billing Services Inc.
Porn-themed movies, while winning industry praise, don’t typically become blockbusters. “Boogie Nights,” with Burt Reynolds and Mark Walhberg, took in $41 million in worldwide ticket sales on a $15 million budget in 1997 and garnered three Oscar nominations, according to Internet Movie Database. A year earlier, “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” with Woody Harrelson, brought in $43.5 million and was nominated for two Oscars.
“These are films that play well on the coasts but die in the middle of the country, where the only porn people want to see is on the Internet,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst with Hollywood.com who hasn’t seen the movie.
Paramount plans to open “Middle Men” on 250 screens in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and three other cities, and expand to as many as 2,000 screens, depending on how it performs, Mallick said.
Major studios have shuttered several independent labels as they focus on movies with budgets of $100 million or more. That’s given independent producers like Mallick who can find financing an opening to make smaller films and take a chance on a breakout hit.
Of 558 movies released last year, 158 were from Motion Picture Association of America members and 400 from non-MPAA members. That’s down from 633 total in 2008, of which 168 came from MPAA members and 465 were from nonmembers.
Mallick paid for the film’s marketing, as well as the $20 million production cost, says his publicist, Jesus Gil, and promoted it on adult websites. Among the promotions were 30- second spots that played before videos on sites like Pornhub and YouPorn, the spokesman said. Paramount wasn’t involved in the ad purchases, says Steven Rubenstein, an outside spokesman.
Like the main character in “Middle Men” played by Wilson, Mallick said he fell prey to “the money that I made and made some mistakes” that he declined to describe.
Unlike Wilson’s character, Jack Harris, who splits from his wife, Mallick’s marriage survived his time at Paycom, he said. They were divorced later. Paycom and Mallick were never involved in any illegal activity, he said.
Mallick said he became a producer after helping to bankroll a $6 million film called “Gospel Hill” that was released on video. He made a small profit and wanted to be more involved in his next Hollywood venture.
He decided to make a movie based on his own story and brought it to George Gallo, who wrote “Bad Boys” and “Midnight Run.” Gallo spent hours with Mallick, as well as with executives from porn sites, to craft a story line. Some will attend the premiere, Mallick said.
“Middle Men” hasn’t been reviewed by many critics. Variety reviewer Todd McCarthy called it “relentlessly sleazy but undeniably intriguing.”
Mallick intends to make more films. He’s bankrolled a $10 million murder mystery, “Columbus Circle,” starring Selma Blair and Beau Bridges that has yet to get a distributor.
He’s also working on “Exxxit: Life After Porn.” The documentary features adult-film performers such as Mary Carey and Asia Carrera and follows the lives of porn stars after they leave the business.