“Sony slates a big bet on dramas for adults”
Well, well. It may not be a conscious part of the business plan — or perhaps the first comment below is a smoke screen and it actually is by design — but it looks like at least one studio in Hollywood has decided that there is value in targeting moviegoers over the age of 30:
TORONTO — “This was not by design,” said Michael Lynton, the chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Mr. Lynton referred to an eruption of pictures, 11 in all, that have turned his company into a dominant presence among American film distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival, which often sets patterns that hold through the movie awards season.
Mr. Lynton spoke on Friday evening in Sony’s lush hospitality suite at the Ritz-Carlton hotel here. He had just ducked out of a gala across the street, where Brad Pitt, Philip Seymour Hoffman and other stars were introducing Sony’s baseball-themed drama “Moneyball.” Soon he would head off to another gala to promote “The Ides of March,” another Sony drama that is dropping into the Oscar season.
“Anonymous,” an Elizabethan-era thriller starring Rhys Ifans, is a third entry from Sony’s flagship Columbia Pictures unit, while Sony Pictures Classics, an art house division, is contributing no fewer than eight films to the festival.
It is an extraordinary showing, in a year when Warner Brothers, Disney and the main studio labels at Fox, and Universal Studios, laid low.
In the last half-decade, some studios folded or sold small-film units like Warner Independent Pictures and Disney’s Miramax Films, while others severely curtailed their commitment to the adult dramas that frequently turn into prize contenders. Now the grown-up side of Hollywood, in some quarters, at least, is experiencing a resurgence.
Okay, people! Here is your chance to vote with your wallets. Watch trailers. Read reviews. If you see an adult drama (or other genre) you think looks interesting and good, shout down that little voice inside your head — you know the one that says, “I’ll just wait for it to come out on Netflix” — get ass off your Barcolounger, go to the local theater and actually see these movies when they are released. Opening weekend even better.
We can complain about the lack of good movies Hollywood produces, the dearth of quality films, or we can get off the sidelines and actually do something about it: When you hear about a worthy movie targeting the adult demo, support it. It’s the most direct and sure-fire way to get Hollywood’s attention. All they care about is money. And we know how to speak that language.
For more of the NYT article, go here.