Marketing
Coppola did not sell distribution rights for the United States and Canada until she and Flack finished editing the film.[55] In February 2003, the director showed the film to top executives at the domestic arm of Focus Features,[55] the company to which it had already sold most of the foreign distribution. The prior contract proved to be significant for Focus, as it received privileged access to the film while competing buyers complained that they were restricted to the viewing of a three-minute trailer in the Focus offices at the American Film Market.[98] Coppola initially offered the domestic distribution rights for $5 million, but she decided to sell them to Focus for $4 million, citing her appreciation for the international deals the company had secured for the film.[55]
Once Focus was involved, it began promoting the film by employing a conventional "indie-style" marketing campaign.[99] The strategy involved generating positive word of mouth for the film well before its September 2003 release.[100] The distributor arranged advance press screenings throughout the summer of 2003 and combined this with a magazine publicity campaign.[100][note 15] Posters and trailers emphasized the recognizable star presence of Murray, highlighting his performance in the film's comic sequences, which favored wider audience appeal.[101] Immediately prior to its release, Focus placed Lost in Translation in film festivals and hosted "intimate media screenings" that included question-and-answer panels with Coppola and Murray.[55] Many of these marketing tacks were designed to promote the film at minimal cost, a departure from more costly strategies often employed in the Hollywood mainstream, such as major television advertising.[99]
Theatrical run
Lost in Translation had its premiere on August 29, 2003, at the Telluride Film Festival in the United States.[3] Over the next week, it appeared at film festivals in Venice and Toronto.[3] It opened to the public in limited release on September 12, 2003, at 23 theaters in major cities in the United States.[102] The film had already generated speculation about Oscar contention from advance screenings and was noted for opening several weeks earlier than expected for an indie vying for awards—a risk being that opening too early might cause the film to be forgotten by the time nominations were made for major prizes like the Academy Awards.[100][103] Focus Features co-presidents James Schamus and David Linde commented that the company chose an early release date on the basis of factors including the film's quality and early marketing campaign, as well as a lack of competition from other films.[100] The strategy was intended to give Lost in Translation more time to command the marketplace.[104]
Graph showing the estimated number of theaters in which Lost in Translation played in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico in 2003–2004.[105] Focus Features expanded its theater presence in January after it received nominations for the 76th Academy Awards.The film grossed $925,000 in its opening weekend and was expanded the next week from 23 theaters to 183[100] in the top 25 markets of the country.[102] There, it grossed more than $2.62 million over the weekend[106] and nearly paid off the total budget of the film. It entered wide release on October 3,[note 16] its fourth weekend, peaking at a rank of seven in the box office chart;[105] a week later, it expanded to an estimated 882 theaters, the film's highest theater count over its run.[105] Lost in Translation grossed an estimated to-date total of $18.5 million through October 13[105] and was noted by The Hollywood Reporter to have been performing well even "in smaller and medium-sized markets where audiences don't always respond to this type of upscale material".[100] Following this performance, Lost in Translation saw a gradual decline in theater presence progressing into the new year,[105] though it was expanded again after the film received nominations for the 76th Academy Awards.[107] The film was widened from a late December low of 117 theaters to an estimated 632 at the end of January, ultimately ending its run in the United States and Canada on March 25 and earning $44.6 million.[105] Its international release earned $74.1 million, for a worldwide total of $118.7 million.[105]
Home media
The DVD of Lost in Translation was released on February 3, 2004,[108] and includes deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a conversation about the film featuring Murray and Coppola, and a music video for "City Girl",[109] one of the original songs composed for the film by Kevin Shields. Wanting to capitalize on the publicity surrounding Lost in Translation's presence at the Academy Awards, Focus Features made the unusual move of releasing the film on home media while it was still screening in theaters, immediately after its Oscar nominations were announced.[107] The strategy was seen as risky, as the industry was generally concerned that theatrical revenues could be harmed by early home video release.[107] Lost in Translation ultimately earned nearly $5 million from its first five days of video rentals and sold one million retail copies during its first week of release.[110] Early returns showed it was the second-best selling DVD during this period[110] while the film screened in 600 theaters and box office revenues dropped 19% from the previous week, which Variety described as "relatively modest".[111] Focus credited the performance to positive word of mouth and cited the marketing for the film on both media as helpful for whichever platform consumers chose.[111]
Lost in Translation was later released on the now-obsolete HD DVD format on May 29, 2007,[112] and on Blu-ray on December 7, 2010.[113] In June 2023, Kino Lorber announced it would release the film on Ultra HD Blu-ray, featuring a new 4K scan of the film.[114]
