TL;DR: Variety's Indie Guide
There are a few things that film nerds can retain the right to be happy about during the year: Film Festivals, Top 10 Season (happening in a short two months) and when Variety decides to dust off the old dictionary, look up what "indie" means and demand its' freelancers turn in a gigantic missive about what it all means.
The Global Independents 2009 is such an all-encompassing treatsie. It goes through every "indie" studio and ranks their hits, misses and what everything is riding on for the rest of '09.
Just like anything Variety publishes, there is a ton of conflicting viewpoints: Indie Films are a silver lining for Hollywood distribution and making money, but Major Studios think Indie Off-Shoots Are BAD. Need an example? Think back to Paramount Vantage, which released There Will Be Blood along with more forgettable recent fare like The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard. and The Marc Pease Experience.
They're also dead now.
So what's the selling point of "indie?" It's the Internet.
No, really--VOD,DVD and all sorts of technological feats as a means of distribution beat out theaters, since Art House Theaters are shutting down and Theater Chains are combining together to form horrendous cinematic chimeras. So let's take a rundown of these "indie studios" that aren't Fox, Universal, Paramount, Disney or Warner Brothers. You'll probably be a bit surprised by what falls under the term. Now then, TL;DR!
SummitWhat It Released: Knowing, Bandslam and...something called Twilight.
Who They Are: Essentially, this "mini-major" studio rose to greatness once it latched onto the Twilight franchise like a hungry fangbanger. Then came Knowing and The Hurt Locker. It seems like they're slowly rising up to be a contender, but...
Where They're Going: ...everything they're focusing on now seems to be Sparkly Vampire Centric, such as how they fumbled the marketing of Bandslam as "the movie with a 30-second New Moon trailer." Their upcoming release of Astro Boy could be interesting, but given how many liberties the film has taken with the source material to go from "dark Atomic Age story" to "kid-friendly" remains to be seen. Oh yeah--and New Moon comes out in November.
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Focus FeaturesWhat It Released: Coraline, 9, Burn After Reading
Who They Are: Universal's younger, hipper brother who happens to not be as mainstream as his older brother, but this dude would also consider whatever's on MTV2 to be the hippest thing he ever heard.
Where They're Going: A Serious Man marks another Coen Brothers film. So, we're interested.
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Fox SearchlightWhat It Released: Slumdog Millionaire, Juno, Napolean Dynamite. REMEMBER THOSE ONLY! PLEASE.
Who They Are: Akin to Universal's hip brother, Searchlight is just that: nit-picky, fickle and desperate to show off how cool it is. It attaches itself to anything in hopes for a hit (see: Notorious, Secret Life of Bees, Choke) and can't understand why the success of Juno and Slumdog Millionaire won't show back up.
Where They're Going: Amelia, Whip It, Gentlemen Broncos. Cough.
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MiramaxWhat They Released: Kill Bill, Every Tarantino and Kevin Smith Film, No Country for Old Men
Who They Are: The House That Weinstein Built and now under the reins from The House of Mouse. Miramax sort of just...is.
Where They're Going: One rumor Variety had was layoffs are coming. Otherwise, there's the limited CliveOwen drama The Boys Are Back and...something with De Niro? Eh.
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Paramount VantageWhat They Released: There Will Be Blood and other leftovers from Paramount.
Who They Are: 2008: Paramount's attempt at getting critical hits. 2009: Their toilet paper.
Where They're Going: R.I.P. It was dissolved.
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Samuel GoldwynWhat They Released: Fireproof (“2008’s Highest Grossing Indie Release”), Blood: The Last Vampire, Cold Souls
Who They Are: Meh.
Where They’re Going: Eh.
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MGMWhat They Released: Valkyrie
Who They Are: The Tom Cruise Studio.
Where They’re Going: Their remake of Fame is their only Fall release right now and they’re partnered with Warner Brothers for whenever The Hobbit gets it’s ass in gear.
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Sony ClassicsWhat They Released: Rachel Getting Married, Whatever Works, Moon
Who They Are: Specializing in “foreign films” and art-house far, SPC always has a home for the Almodovars of the world.
Where They’re Going: Coco Before Chanel, The Damned United, The White Ribbon…nothing surprising, mostly foreign and a Cannes ‘09 Palme d’Or winner. It’s fine.
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Roadside AttractionsWhat They Released: Battle for Terra, The Cove, The September Issue, Goodbye Solo
Who They Are: Semi-Sorta partners with Lionsgate, they specialize in eeking out small deals and getting free reign with their distribution and product. Problem is, outside of hardcore NYC/LA cinephiles, have you heard of Goodbye Solo? Probably not. (And that’s a shame!)
Where They’re Going: Chris Rock’s Good Hair doc will do something for them. Otherwise, they’ll continue to profit and you’ll see them pop up every so often.
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IFC FilmsWhat They Released: Che, Gommorah
Who They Are: The distrib. arm of the Independent Film Channel. They pioneer on-demand video releasing, generally doing same-day as it hits theaters—or, the theater in the East Village. Perfectly awesome and they get it right.
Where They’re Going: Antichrist, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and that’s ok for me.
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OvertureWhat They Released: Righteous Kill, Last Chance Harvey, Sunshine Cleaners
Who They Are: Studio with a lot of passable flicks that needs a hit.
Where They’re Going: Law Abiding Citizen, Capitalism: A Love Story, Pandorum, The Men Who Stare At Goats: I mean, you throw enough rocks, you’re bound to hit something.
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LionsgateWhat They Released: All Tyler Perry’s Films, the entire Saw franchise.
Who They Are: The quintessential “mini-major” studio that sits pretty and laughs at other people. Also, the home of Tyler Perry and Saw.
Where They’re Going: The fucking BANK.
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Freestyle ReleasingWhat They Released: The Collector, The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Who They Are: It’s a gun for hire. Mainly if you come to them, they will distribute the film as best they can.
Where They’re Going: I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. Keyword: HELL. Also, Motherhood. Huh.
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MagnoliaWhat They Released: Two Lovers, Let The Right One In, Food Inc.
Who They Are: The Marc Cuban Film Company with a stake in the Landmark chain of movie theaters. They nab up a lot of stuff that the Weinsteins/Miramax threw away and have been doing well for themselves ever since. They also operate Magnet, a genre release arm that also does the bees knees.
Where They’re Going: Bronson, The House of the Devil, Ong Bak 2. The genre safe route.
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The Weinstein CompanyWhat They Released: Inglourious Basterds, The Reader, The Road
Who They Are: The Motherfucking Bob and Harvey Weinstein. They founded and ran Miramax, they left to run this, they’re BFF with Tarantino and until last month they were looking at the curb. Now with Basterds they’re back and ready to throw…something at us. They are notorious for buying and acquiring films, then letting them sit on the shelves until they’re ready to cash in. Not to mention notorious at delays—right, The Road?
Where They’re Going: No side.
-John Lichman
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