“Indie pics rebound may be at hand”
Another article that came out during my trip. This one from Variety. Lo and behold! Good news for indie films?!?!
Indie film biz watchers have been holding their breath waiting for a winning streak to signal a much-desired resurgence in the sector. Well, they can breathe again, but slowly.
In the last three months, a number of solid base hits have fired up the indie realm after a long downturn that threw the specialty biz into a serious identity crisis. These pics may not be generating the sorts of grosses that make for blaring headlines, but they are good enough where it counts: The pocketbook.
With a glut of product a thing of the past and more shelf space, a handful of films have found a following and harnessed that old-fashioned marketing tool — word of mouth — to stay in theaters and build their audience.
Fox Searchlight’s dramedy “Cyrus” raised hopes when it opened June 18 with the second-highest per-screen average of the year — $45,429. Directed by Mark and Jay Duplass, the comedy grossed $181,714 from four theaters before scoring strong weekday biz last week.
“There is still life in the market, even as audiences are being more selective,” says Fox Searchlight president Steve Gilula, who runs the division with Nancy Utley.
Successes have included “City Island,” quietly holding and banking money since March; “Babies” and “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” showing that there could still be life in the theatrical documentary market.
The past few months’ films are a diverse crop, ranging from obvious crowd-pleasers to more challenging sells of documentaries and foreign-language films. And success stories for “City Island” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” are all the more impressive considering they were released by tiny Anchor Bay and Music Box Films. “These are big successes for these companies,” a studio specialty exec says.
What’s happening. Well, apparently people are making good movies. That always helps. Then there’s this:
Not only is there less competition among indie titles; specialty titles are sometimes finding less competition from wide releases, since production across the board has slowed down.
With fewer movies in the marketplace, there are more screens available, and a better chance for a small movie to build word of mouth.
I’ve already pimped Cyrus here. Now how about Exit Through the Gift Shop?
The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. Billed as ‘the world’s first street art disaster movie’ the film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work.
Here’s a 5-minute sneak peek:
Some of Banksy’s graffiti art:
Find out where the movie is playing here.
Support independent and specialty movies!