No it’s not all about building buzz, sometimes it’s about realizing this movie won’t make serious money and getting what you can out of it. I doubt highly this movie cost more than a quarter million to make. It’s not just opinion it’s working with the facts available, and the FACTS say it’s highly unlikely anybody thought this movie was going to make big money, the FACTS point to a deliberate small release with very little attempt to build momentum towards the big big money. You’re just guess they targeted something bigger but the facts say that’s just a guess. Heck the movie hasn’t even been released internationally yet, if they were gunning for the big big money it would be out in at least part of the rest of the world by now.
Sigh, it IS about building buzz for as cheap as possible. These indie flicks are too unpredictable. They release it first in huge cities, especially the ones that advance a political agenda (usually liberal) (5-10 cities), if it does well they increase its theatres to mid-major cities (100 +- 50 cities). It does well there they advance it to North America (500-3k theaters) and then usually globally. Leo alone probably cost over a $1 million for his voice. He usually commands upwards of $10 million for a movie. You can think whatever you want but you are incorrect. Look
here at what An inconvenient truth did. 4 theatres, then 77, then 122, then 404, then 514, then 587. It's PTA was way higher than this movie with almost identical buzz. It made 25 million domestic. It's PTA was more in a single day on the weekend than 11th hour did over the entire weekend. But you keep on believing what you want to believe. You don't think Warner purchased the rights (probably for millions as most of these types are) because they thought they would lose money do you? You can continue to bury your head in the sand if you want, the rest of us will realize that the big wigs are indeed disappointed.