Bjork the whale gets US distribution

In what will most likely turn out to be the rights-acquisition equivalent of throwing money down a hole, the ever-optimistic people at IFC Films recently picked up the American theatrical rights to artist Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 9. Doesn't ring a bell? Come on, you remember - it's the movie on a boat, with the tub of Vaseline on its deck in which Björk and her boyfriend Barney hang out, turning into whales! Yeah, that one. And now, thanks to IFC, we'll all get to experience the film's magic for ourselves, starting at the end of March. Thank goodness.

Look, I know Barney has a fair number of fans, as does Björk - but in what world could this be a useful acquisition for IFC? I mean, very few people are going to spend a lazy afternoon watching this one just out of curiosity. How could the cost of buying the rights possibly be covered by the profits? It just seems completely impossible.