Mubi Founder Efe Çakarel Talks Strategy Behind ‘Decision To Leave’ Acquisition – Toronto Industry Talk

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Streaming platform and burgeoning theatrical distributor Mubi is at the Toronto Film Festival this year with Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave, which marks one of its costliest acquisitions to date.Mubi acquired all rights for North America, the U.K., Ireland, Turkey and India ahead of the film’s buzzy world premiere at Cannes in May, where Park won best director, and selection as Korea’s Oscar entry.The North American release – which will be handled directly by Mubi in the U.S.

and through a partnership with Mongrel Media in Canada – is the platform’s biggest release campaign in the region since it began ratcheting up its in-house theatrical distribution capabilities in 2019.Mubi founder and CEO Efe Çakarel talked about his company’s journey to get to this point in a Toronto industry talk on Monday.“We did not release a film at this scale in North America before and this is probably the biggest foreign language of the year,” commented Çakarel.The decision to acquire the film was based on analysis of data, garnered from the viewing habits of the platform’s 10 to 12m active users, and pure love of cinema, as is the case for all the company’s acquisitions, he revealed.“We paid an irrational amount because my data showed me that that film is worth significantly more than what the distributors were prepared to pay, starting in the UK,” he saidKey data markers employed by Mubi analysts, he explained, are the average lifetime value of customers and retention rates in a given territory.“Some people leave after a month.

Others are still with us after 12 years. If you’re with Mubi for six months, you’re probably there forever. The curve flattens after a certain point,” said Çakarel.He noted that countries have different