Normally, I don’t care how much a movie makes.  In fact, I’m dismayed to find so many people talking about box-office grosses nowadays—and so few talking about the quality of moviemaking. 

But there is one box-office statistic I like very much, because it represents a David and Goliath story.  I’m referring to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which has passed the $60 million mark after four months in theaters.

The Los Angeles Times even devoted a front-page story to the little movie that could last week, but the fact that this success is considered a phenomenon says something sad about the current state of movies, and movie distribution.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding was made on a modest budget of five million dollars, and wasn’t released to 5,000 theaters at the same time.  Nor was there an expensive TV commercial campaign.  Instead, the entrepreneurial Bob Berney (who recently left the distribution company he helped to create, IFC Films) set out to conquer just a few cities at a time, relying on that tried-and-true advertising method known as word-of-mouth.

There’s nothing new about this technique, but it is fast disappearing from the movie scene because of the growing reliance on opening-weekend blockbusters.  Theater owners want the hottest, newest titles on their screens every Friday, and don’t want to nurture a smaller movie as it builds an audience, week by week. 

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(This is why so many major movies are targeted at the same youthful demographic—the very people who are susceptible to marketing campaigns built around MTV and McDonald’s.  By contrast, Wedding is attracting a vast older audience—the age group that Hollywood traditionally ignores.  But the last time I looked, the money from ticket sales to over-40s was just as green as the cash collected from teenagers.)

One would think that Wedding’s financial success—given its low cost, it will return much more to its investors than an expensive success like Spider-man—would inspire the movers and shakers in Hollywood to imitate it. But the truth is that by and large, the big Hollywood studios don’t know how to make crowd-pleasers like this any more. Most of their recent attempts at romantic comedies have been lumbering and unsuccessful.

I wouldn’t call My Big Fat Greek Wedding a great movie, but the “secret” of its success, much like its predecessor in the Sleeper Hall of Fame, The Full Monty, is that it makes people feel good.  It isn’t a product, to be marketed at fast-food restaurants, or a brand, to be licensed and merchandised.  It’s just an entertaining movie.

What a concept!