“They said it would never happen”, the account of “hundreds of beavers” poster March 4, 2025. “Long Live Indie Cinema! Budget of $ 150,000 and a dream.” When Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews made their debut on a Slapstick comedy on an Applejack seller confronted hundreds (perhaps thousands) of beavers in order to win the heart of a pelt merchant girl at the fantastic party in 2022, it is doubtful that any person involved could have predicted the story of Cinderrelle who was in their future. Despite the overwhelming praise that left the party (Including Matt Donato’s brilliant criticism for / film), Cheslik and Tews rejected the distribution offers that came to them and rather chose the path of self-distribution. They bet on themselves, and it paid generously.
“Hundreds of beavers” were killed in Rural Wisconsin and Michigan in 12 weeks in the bitter and northwest winter. As whoever hears the expression “lake” and feel that his body was held to testify, these types of conditions are hell To make a film, not to mention a film that requires the styles of physical comedy by Abbott and Costello, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and the three respect. But in 2024, “hundreds of beavers” exploded in popularity thanks to a theatrical race on tour and a video version on demand. Now, the comedy of the oppressed, winner of the prize for the best blow in a film non-action during the annual part Vulture stuntman priceand one of The best films of 2024crossed the million dollars at the box office.
“At the time when we reached $ 100,000 at the box office, we were told that $ 100,000 is the new million for truly independent outings, so we jumped champagne,” said the main producer Kurt Ravenwood in a press release Indiewire. “At this stage, we came out of champagne so much that we have used moon consumption that my grandfather has in his basement. We are very drunk, very happy and so grateful to all independent theaters who have taken our chance. We hope that it encourages more filmmakers and studios to make films for the big screen.”
If you ask me, each studio in the world should look for their next “hundreds of beavers” – and thereby, I mean a brilliant slice of micro -bundle overflowing with originality which is completely unique with everything that is manufactured.
Hundreds of beavers and the return of the theatrical roadshow
There is no bypass – Theatrical experience is in difficulty. While more and more people are waiting for films to reach streaming instead of hiking to the theater, creative solutions are necessary to bring people into the door. The industry cannot survive vibrations, Casting decisions of celebrities A-List and popcorn buckets of novelty alone. Instead of simply tours “hundreds of beavers” as a film projected on the screen, the team transformed the projections of the film into legitimate events. Beginning of the tour in the Midwest where audience sensitivities are more underway than on the coasts, the Great Lakes Road show launched in early 2024, with comedy, Q&R and sometimes a spontaneous beaver struggle (Like, legitimate struggle; Click here To see the Tews deliver a turning plane in a spine at one of the beavers). We do not know what kind of Hijinks Beaves team (that’s how I call them in my heart) will bring, which makes each projection a unique event.
The theatrical book Jessica Rosner helped the film to find a house in theaters around the world, and it was thanks to projections in Germany that the film was able to exceed the bar of a million dollars. Of course, it looks like a change of chump compared to the billions brought by films like “Inside Out 2”, but we are not talking about a massive IP with the marketing support of the greatest conglomerate of entertainment on the planet. On the contrary, we are talking about a black and white film made for less money than a deposit in a house in Los Angeles – the one where a guy obtains his lights struck by someone in a Castor’s mascot costume so strong that he has cartoon birds revolving around his head.
Cheslik and Tews (and the rest of Team Beaves) operate directly to a completely different level of anyone in low -budget space, and the cinema landscape would be better if those responsible accepted that the future of the film was authentic. Sometimes it means that it is presented for a Gothic vampire that makes them want to “Bounce above crrrrrrazy styleuhh“And sometimes, it’s a film on a guy who launches the morve of certain beavers.
Give me beavers or give me death
The public wants innovative ideas and has been shouting for years on their desire for original films. How did industry react? By continuing to shove the homogeneous slope based on the data, to remain shocked when it is rejected by the masses for the fifth consecutive time. So, it should not be surprising that people make their way through the desert to present themselves to a film like “hundreds of beavers”.
Has there been a better drop in the title card in a film in the last decade? I don’t think. Can all the know-how of the CGI in the world get closer to the frantic hilarity of watching an adult man run from a full screen of actors in mascot costumes? Absolutely not. Could some pencil eaters plug in a prompt on Chatgpt and even produce a fraction of the comic spirit found in this film? Also not. This film works as the result of the human touch and a desire to swing for fences when everyone “in charge” asks filmmakers to play safely.
The triumphant performance of “Carsts of Beavers” is inspiring because it confirms that filmmakers can reject “the avenue of success” and always find an audience. It is also careful that people are impatient with stories and filmmakers from all over the country. “Hundreds of beavers” could not be reproduced by someone who did not endure the winters of the hard midwest or who had personal beef with a small rodent who will not seem to leave you alone, and he certainly cannot be reproduced by someone with access to the tap of a silver hose that can “solve” problems instead of trusting your instincts and What Cheslik called in his interview with / film “Small funny failures.” The films are magical, but the films are also chaos, and “hundreds of beavers” deliver both in abundance.
These bizarre of the midwest deserve each brilliant red penny that comes to them. I can’t wait to see what flavor of absurdity they will then bring us.
