Despite ‘Fifty Shades’ Promotion, ‘Old Fashioned’ Romance Isn’t Dead

The independent film Old Fashioned came out of the gate strong in it’s three preview markets—Orlando; Washington, D.C.; and Grand Rapids—posting a hefty per screen average of $12,988/screen, and signaling that old-fashioned romance is not passe to the film-going public. As it prepares to open this weekend across the country, couples are looking at Old Fashioned as the perfect Valentine’s date movie. Women are asking themselves which hero they’d want in their lives: Old Fashioned‘s Clay or Fifty Shades’ Grey?

“Going up against big-budget, blockbuster competition that offers a dark take on love, Old Fashioned puts romance and respect in the heart of relationships,” said Producer Nathan Nazario. “Audiences are responding to Old Fashioned‘s simple message that chivalry is not dead, and real love is worth waiting for.” 

“These reactions confirm what we believed all along,” said Old Fashioned writer/director/lead actor Rik Swartzwelder. “Films like Fifty Shades of Grey may succeed in seducing some, but there are other moviegoers out there who long for tender, genuine, romantic stories about real people with real problems … stories about romance that leads to love that is mutual, healing and lasting.”

“Old Fashioned‘s preview weekend performance is a true David vs. Goliath story. Our counter-programming plan next weekend against Fifty Shades of Grey is off and running!” said Mark Borde, co-president of freestyle releasing.

“These box-office results show that a small, independent film with the right message can have an outsized impact,” said Producer Nathan Nazario. “We all sensed there was a pent-up desire for a wholesome love story, and we’re bringing it.”

Synopsis: A romantic-drama, Old Fashioned centers on Clay Walsh (Swartzwelder), a former frat boy who gives up his carousing and now runs an antique shop in a small Midwestern college town. There, he has become notorious for his lofty and outdated theories on love and romance. When Amber Hewson (Elizabeth Ann Roberts), a free-spirited young woman with a restless soul, drifts into the area and rents the apartment above his shop, she finds herself surprisingly drawn to his noble ideas, which are new and intriguing to her. And Clay, though he tries to fight and deny it, simply cannot resist being attracted to her spontaneous and passionate embrace of life. Ultimately, Clay must step out from behind his relational theories, and Amber must overcome her own fears and deep wounds as the two of them, together, attempt the impossible: an “old-fashioned” courtship in contemporary America.

Cast: In addition to Roberts (Criminal Minds, Southland, CSI) and Swartzwelder (The Least of These, War Prayer), Old Fashioned features Dorothy Silver (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mothman Prophecies), Tyler Hollinger (Black Dog, Red Dog; Trust Me, I’m a LifeGUard; Taxi Brooklyn; What Would You Do?), LeJon Woods (Homemakers, Tomorrow You’re Gone), Nini Hadjis (Cross-eyed Dinner Theater Presents!, Focus on Me), Maryann Nagel (Into the Storm, True Nature), Joseph Bonamico (Miami Vice, The Light of Day, Unsolved Mysteries), Lindsay Heath, Anne Marie Nestor (Turbine, One Life to Live, The Onion News Network) and Ange’le Perez.

Old Fashioned is produced by Swartzwelder’s Skoche Films, Nazario of Motion Picture Pro Studios, Dave DeBorde and Nini Hadjis. Freestyle Releasing distributes.

Additionally, Tyndale House Publishers released two books based on the movie: Old Fashioned, a screenplay novelization by Rene Gutteridge, and a nonfiction devotional, The Old Fashioned Way—Reclaiming the Lost Art of Romance, on relationships and dating, and written by Ginger Kolbaba.