The film was distributed by cutting out studios, in order to have creative control and make money directly from the film itself. Accordingly, for this atypical distribution, Steven Soderbergh raised the budget by selling off foreign distribution rights, and then sold everything except the movie showing up in a movie theater in order to pay for advertising and prints of the movie (for example, selling post-theatrical rights to the likes of HBO, Netflix, Video-On-Demand, television, and airplanes). By following these two steps, Soderbergh was able to sidestep a Hollywood studio, and had creative control the entire time (for instance, the trailers that dropped earlier this summer were by his design, as was the poster and the entire marketing plan). Also, according to Soderbergh, under this set-up, the box-office bar for success is lower. With nearly everything prepaid, and no hefty distributor fees coming off the top, even a modest fifteen million dollar opening would be a win.
When Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) gets fired, he convinces his brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and sister Mellie (Riley Keough) to help him rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during a NASCAR Race. But they will need the help of Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), a convicted safe-cracker who is currently doing time. All they have to do is break Joe out, blow the racetrack vault, get away with the cash, return Joe to prison, and get Jimmy to his daughter’s beauty pageant on time. What could possibly go wrong? Well, there is the Logan family curse .—Cinemaniaca
