Gross Behaviour - by Leonard Klady

A Tree is a Tree and the Familiarity of Change

About 55 years ago the possibility of a parallel film industry not shackled to the major motion picture studios took root with the passage of what was known as the Paramount Consent Decree. The U.S. Congress passed anti-trust legislation that compelled studios with motion picture theater properties to divest those holdings. It was held that producers of movies had an unfair advantage if they could also control the distribution of product, favoring the movies that were produced under their aegis and by implication shutting out films from other sources.

There already existed minor players such as Republic that played major circuits based on largesse or simply took dates at non-aligned movie houses. At about the same moment in time, there was an explosion of new talent and perspectives from Europe and Asia and an interest fueled by the Second World War for all things foreign.

We know, looking in the rear view mirror, that the door was left ajar but that there was no deluge in the wake of the decision. For a half century the studios (known as the Seven Sisters) have dominated what the American public and indeed the world watchs on movie screens. With frightening consistency the majors have commanded a 95% share of the domestic box office and through this past weekend they and their affiliate labels enjoy a 96% North American market share.

The prospects for an alternative voice have all but been quashed. The Sisters don’t really acquire movies anymore for theatrical distribution after the fact and I’m not aware of a single 2003 release from those seven companies that was produced independently and sold at market. The most recent film that fits the description was the Sundance-premiered Narc that opened late last year via Paramount.

Many of the affiliates are as corporate, dispassionate and bottom line as their parents. Miramax is dominated by in-house production, especially genre fare from its Dimension label; Fine Line is virtually moribund; Fox Searchlight is heavily reliant on co-production; and Focus is still attempting to define itself. The more adventurous United Artists and Paramount Classics have generated few hits, although the former can claim one stunning success with the $20 million performance of Bowling for Columbine.

However, the most consistent alternative label remains Sony Classics and it hasn’t had a banner year. Sony Classics doesn’t really develop although it does pre-buy; most memorably when it put down several million dollars for rights in North America and several other countries for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The resulting torrent of profit revenues led the company to fully finance its first film and the resulting Auto-Focus pretty much convinced its partners to return to strategies developed over three decades of minimum guarantees and generous profit participation.

Sony Classics is virtually the only specialized label that operates as if it was an independent and has the added edge of decades of positive relationships with talent. Which brings us to the dozens of companies that don’t have rich parents. The most vibrant, marking on the curve, is Lions Gate. It trades heavily on prestige fare that in recent years has included Monsters Ball, Secretary, Affliction and Gods and Monsters. However, Cabin Fever, House of 1000 Corpses and American Psycho more aptly reflect what pays the bills and the company’s acquisition of Artisan Entertainment and its rich library of genre titles has to be viewed as a savvy business move. Lions Gate - evolved from the Montreal exploitation distrib Cinepix - is virtually the only production/distribution company outside the majors capable of financing modestly budgeted movies on a regular basis.

The viability of an alternative stream of product pretty much ended with the acquisition of New Line, Miramax and, to a lesser degree October Films. Around 1960, the studios at various times have gotten into the specialized business. Satellite companies of the majors handled such titles as Tom Jones and Zorba the Greek and provided the initial proof that these films had a potential audience outside a handful of major cities.

The allure of opening up a division for high quality, non-mainstream film isn’t simply about the movies or profits; though both have been significant factors in the rise and fall of many a niche enterprise. Because the Sisters have such an incredible stranglehold on the nation’s screens, it’s always been news when an “outsider” has managed to attract audiences and headlines whether that title happened to be I Am Curious (Yellow), Dirty Dancing or The Graduate or, last year’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The knee-jerk reaction at the majors has been to buy real estate and presumably cash in on the craze. There’s also been the thought that this smaller arena might be a good, lower risk training ground for talent.

Historically, the results were never as high as the expectation. The specialized divisions of the majors tended to distribute either lower budget versions of popular genres or arcane, limited appeal movies. Following several years of activity, some senior executive would look at the books and wonder why the company was involved in an operation that required enormous diligence and was either bleeding money or generating modest, very modest profits. This cycle repeated three or four times and always came to the same conclusion.

What’s changed in the past decade is that the majors rarely get involved in adult fare. Only one of last year’s Oscar best picture nominees was released by a studio and in the past decade no one can touch Miramax’s record of 11 nominations and three statuettes in that top category. The split is 26/24 with the edge going to affiliates and growing wider with each subsequent year. The unaffiliated have a 0 for 50 record, though fare better in acting, writing and some technical categories.

So, the specialized and not so specialized divisions pick up the slack when it comes to producing and distributing movies targeted for people 25 years and older. It is a not inconsequential audience, simply not the largest demographic of frequent movie goers that has been the very predominant target of the studios.

What the specialized divisions do for good and ill is take up space. It’s no surprise that as the studios have stopped acquiring films, their slate is bereft of films in a foreign-language. However, the record in this arena isn’t much better for their specialized arms. Though the number of foreign-language films released in North America has been on the upswing, a total of 14 non-English language movies acquired by the alternative labels opened in 2003. Sony Classics handled six including the virtually wordless Winged Migration, Paramount Classics opened three foreign titles, both Miramax and Fox Searchlight handled two a piece and United Artists distributed the remaining movie.

Of the dozens of foreign-language movies that opened in 2003 from indie companies, only seven grossed more than $1 million including three locally produced and distributed in Quebec, a Hindi-language movie in the last active ethnic circuit, the Oscar-winning Nowhere in Africa from Zeitgeist and another Oscar nominee, Mexico’s The Crime of Padre Amaro and Wellspring’s highly stylized Russian Ark. Ironically Padre Amaro was bankrolled by Sony but the company realized it would fare better financially by selling it off to IDP Distribution.

The other great sin of the specialized divisions is that they have covertly set the agenda for what constitutes the alternative viewing choice. It isn’t A Woman Under the Influence, Kiss of the Spider Woman or The Crying Game, it’s The Quiet American, Bend It Like Beckham and About Schmidt _ the sort of films that studios used to make to attract top talent and address the interests of adult viewers. And the combination of confusion and the desperate means necessary simply to survive have turned the alternative universe of movies on its ear. That’s crystallized in the top two grossing indie releases of 2003 _ Lions Gate’s horror entry Cabin Fever and the family friendly Whale Rider from Newmarket. It is a small world after all.