Editing Sense and Sensibility (film) (section)

== Marketing and release ==
In the United States, [[Sony]] and Columbia Pictures released ''Sense and Sensibility'' on a slow schedule compared to mainstream films, first premiering it on 13 December 1995.{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=155}} Believing that a limited release would both position the film as an "exclusive quality picture" and increase its chances of winning [[Academy Awards]], Columbia dictated that its first weekend involve only seventy cinemas in the US; it opened in eleventh place in terms of box office takings and earned $721,341.{{sfn|Mills|2009|p=72}}{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=157}}<ref name="boxofficemojooverview">{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=senseandsensibility.htm |title=Sense and Sensibility (1995) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=23 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725111841/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=senseandsensibility.htm |archive-date=25 July 2012 }}</ref> To benefit from the publicity surrounding potential Academy Award candidates and increase its chance of earning nominations, the film was released within "[[Oscar season]]".{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=155}} The number of theatres showing ''Sense and Sensibility'' was slowly expanded, with particular surges when its seven Oscar nominations were announced and at the time of the [[68th Academy Awards|ceremony in late March]], until it was present in over one thousand cinemas across the US.{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=157}} By the end of its American release, ''Sense and Sensibility'' had been watched by more than eight million people,{{sfn|Higson|2004|p=65}} garnering an "impressive" total domestic gross of $43,182,776.{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=157}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=1996&wknd=04&p=.htm |title=Weekend Box Office Results for January 26-28, 1996 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=23 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054518/http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=1996&wknd=04&p=.htm |archive-date=21 September 2013 }}</ref>

On the basis of Austen's reputation as a serious author, the producers were able to rely on high-brow publications to help market their film. Near the time of its US release, large spreads in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', ''[[Film Comment]]'', and other media outlets featured columns on Lee's production.{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=156}} In late December, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine declared it and ''Persuasion'' to be the best films of 1995.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983896,00.html |title=The best of 1995: Cinema |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=25 December 1995 |access-date=26 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827081935/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C983896%2C00.html |archive-date=27 August 2012 }}</ref> Andrew Higson referred to all this media exposure as a "marketing coup" because it meant the film "was reaching one of its target audiences."{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=156}} Meanwhile, most promotional images featured the film as a "sort of [[chick flick]] in period garb."{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=156}} New Market Press published Thompson's screenplay and film diary;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/12/15/happy-ending-28/ |title=Happy ending |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |first=Connie |last=Lauerman |date=15 December 1995 |access-date=17 August 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006054902/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-12-15/features/9512150025_1_jane-austen-society-sense-and-sensibility-sensibility-screenplay |archive-date= 6 October 2012 }}</ref>{{sfn|Brownstein|2001|p=17}} in its first printing, the hard cover edition sold 28,500 copies in the US.{{sfn|Higson|2011|pp=129–30}} British publisher [[Bloomsbury Press|Bloomsbury]] released a paperback edition of the novel containing film pictures, same title design, and the cast's names on the cover, while Signet Publishing in the US printed 250,000 copies instead of the typical 10,000 a year; actress [[Julie Christie]] read the novel in an [[audiobook]] released by Penguin Audiobooks.{{sfn|Higson|2004|pp=40–41}}{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=129}} ''Sense and Sensibility'' increased dramatically in terms of its book sales, ultimately hitting tenth place on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for paperbacks]] in February 1996.{{sfn|Thompson|2003|p=13}}

In the United Kingdom, ''Sense and Sensibility'' was released on 23 February 1996 in order to "take advantage of the hype from ''[[Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV series)|Pride and Prejudice]]''", another popular Austen adaptation recently broadcast. [[TriStar Pictures|Columbia Tristar]]'s head of UK marketing noted that "if there was any territory this film was going to work, it was in the UK."{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=157}} After receiving positive responses at previews, marketing strategies focused on selling it as both a costume drama and as a film attractive to mainstream audiences.{{sfn|Higson|2011|pp=157–58}} Attention was also paid to marketing ''Sense and Sensibility'' internationally. Because the entire production cycle had consistently emphasised it as being "bigger" than a normal British period drama literary film, distributors avoided labelling it as "just another English period film."{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=158}} Instead, marketing materials featured quotations from populist newspapers such as the ''[[Daily Mail]]'', which compared the film to ''[[Four Weddings and a Funeral]]'' (1994).{{sfn|Higson|2011|p=158}} It opened in the UK on 102 screens and grossed £629,152 in its opening weekend, placing fourth at the box office.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=UK Top 15: Feb 23-25|magazine=[[Screen International]]|date=1 March 1996|page=27}}</ref> It went on to gross £13,605,627 in the UK, the seventh highest-grossing film for the year.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Screen International]]|title=UK Top 100 Films Dec 1, 1995-Nov 29, 1996|page=55|date=24 January 1997}}</ref> It was watched by more than ten million viewers in Europe.{{sfn|Higson|2004|p=65}} Worldwide, the film ultimately grossed $134,582,776,<ref name=boxofficemojooverview /> a sum that reflected its commercial success.{{sfn|Mills|2009|p=72}}{{sfn|Higson|2004|p=35}} It had the largest box office gross out of the Austen adaptations of the 1990s.{{sfn|Higson|2004|p=44}}