H.P Institutional Context - Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)

Production

The iconic mask can be seen in this image of the main character Michael Myers

• The film had a very low budget, just $300k, this meant that the budget for the costuming was stretched. This resulted in many of the costumes being actors own clothes and the iconic mask being made from a cheap Captain Kirk mask sprayed white and with the eye holes widened.
• The whole project was shot in just 20 days due to financial strains putting pressure on the shooting period.
• The film's budget also restricted the number of marquee name actors that were able to be cast. The biggest star cast was Donald Pleasence after both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee declined due to the low pay offering.
• The soundtrack was scored by the film's director John Carpenter to save costs, and is regarded as one of the most influential selling points of the film.

Distribution

The Theatrical release poster for Halloween

•  The film was produced by Falcon International Productions and distributed by Compass International Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.
• Despite the small $300k budget, the film received a $70million box office revenue, having very comfortably received five times it's budget in profits and much more.
• Halloween was first released on 25th October 1978, cashing in on the suitable Halloween holiday market.
• Since it's theatrical release the film has been released on VHS, LaserDisk, DVD, UMD and BluRay, however at the time of the film's release home video was a very young format and was not widely supported, hence the majority of revenue came from the theatrical release.
• Due to the film's low budget there was very little marketing beyond the traditional trailer and poster releases, however this lack of marketing is not reflected in the box office. The main marketing contributor for the film was buzz, with people spreading excitement about it's slasher style violence and fear factor.