..,.Gary
Dretzka
..,.Leonard
Klady
...David
Poland
...Doug
Pratt
...Ray
Pride
..2007 Toronto Film Festival ..24 Weeks To Oscar Let's Talk Toronto
Part I of IIThe early fall festival circuit of Telluride/Venice/ Toronto felt a little different this year. The was less aggravation than I remember in years past ... and less elation. There is, simply, a lot of Good.
Good.
In an internet driven era, full of fire and speed and the ultimate in misleadingly independent minded hype, the word "good" is similar to the word "neat," as spoken to Madonna by Kevin Costner infamously in Truth or Dare. "Good" has no value to those who are desperately hungry to be "great."
But before you start pointing fingers at the studios or the increasingly self-limiting domestic theatrical distribution system or The Great Unwashed, I would argue that we should look first at both our expectations and what filmmakers considered "indie" are actually making these days.
First, our expectations.
It seems to me that the key to the shift in expectations we are currently living with is not so much Pulp Fiction, the first $100 million indie, or Fahrenheit 9/11, the first and only $100 million doc, but the studios getting into the indie game. It's quite different than it was in 1993/94 when Disney acquired Miramax or even in the early years of Fox Searchlight under Lindsay Law (1994-2000).
But let's use Searchlight as a example. The Dependent broke into the Best Picture business a decade ago in 1997 with The Full Monty. Not only that, but the film did almost $46 million domestic ... not half of what Miramax's Good Will Hunting did that year, but aside from Miramax/Dimension and Gramercy's Four Weddings & A Funeral ($53m in 1994), it was a high box office watermark for an indie in that era. A year later, $25 million (and no Best Picture nod) for Waking Ned Devine was seen as "coming up short." A year after that, Searchlight's A Midsummer Night's Dream did $16 million off of an $11 million budget, and was considered an outright bomb.
In Peter Rice's first full year, 2001, his Searchlight released only 4 films, but had a hit in the "urban" film Kingdom Come and three well respected, Sundance premiered, but commercially iffy films from McGehee & Siegel (The Deep End), Richard Linklater (Waking Life), and Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast). A year later, six of the Dependent's seven releases grossed more than $10 million, four of them over $20 million. But even with Robin Williams (One Hour Photo), Goldie Hawn & Susan Sarandon (The Banger Sisters), and Denzel Washington (Antwone Fisher), they still hadn't moved forward on a film with a budget as high as $15 million.
Meanwhile, across town, Schamus & Linde had landed at Universal and launched the Focus brand. And their first big Oscar movie was the $35 million The Pianist. They didn't pay for the film. In fact, it was a pick-up out of Cannes. But they did pay for Far From Heaven that year, which was as expensive as the most expensive film ever made under the Searchlight banner. The next year, in-house project 21 Grams cost well over $20 million. By 2004, Focus was making multiple films each year that cost over $20 million.
The bar was raised.
And that's not even including Miramax, which by 2002 was making movies budgeted at over $100 million.
Last year, there were 49 films from True Indies and Dependents that grossed $5 million or more. Those 49 films grossed $1.07 billion. There is some real money in films grossing less than $5 million, but my argument here is that the business of films that gross less than $5 million is now a separate business, really.
By far, the biggest box office performing company in the group was Lionsgate with $323 million, almost twice what #2, Fox Searchlight grossed on this category of films ($169 million) with 6 titles. The Weisntein Co/Dimension did $134 million with seven titles. Focus/Rogue did $102 million with seven qualifying titles. Miramax did $64 million with two titles, though all but eight was The Queen. Picturehouse did $58 million with just two titles in this category.
Those are the only indie/dependents with over $50 million in domestic revenue on films that grossed at least $5 million. The Yari Group did a remarkable $40 million with The Illusionist. Sony Classics did $33 million with three titles. Warner Indie did $19 million on three.
But Lionsgate ...nine films grossing at least $5 million ... five horror films ... one Tyler Perry film ... two broad comedies starring Larry The Cable Guy and Dane Cook ... and one film that someone was sincerely expected to feel all indie about, Akeelah & The Bee.
That's almost one-third of the category.
On the other hand, only one of Fox Searchlight's six qualifiers did under $17.5 million. (It was the broad comedy with Monique.)
On eight qualifying Weinstein/Dimension films, only one did under $10 million ... yet all but one was considered a bomb ... and even the one obvious moneymaker - Clerks II - was positioned as a bomb by some silly people.
These three companies are almost two-thirds of the category.
Only a third of the Focus/Rogue revenue came from the Focus side, with the rest from the genre oriented Rogue arm.
$94 million of the Miramax and Picturehouse combined $122 million came from The Queen and Pan's Labyrinth.
Is it getting clearer?
Aside from a wonderful fluke here and there, Fox Searchlight is the only major indie/dependent in the business that the industry perceives as the ideal for independent movies that start with theatrical distribution.
And even then, one of the six was a horror film, one (previously mentioned) was the low grosser in the group (the comedy), and the other four titles all had heavyweight Oscar pushes, delivering nine nominations and three wins for the three titles that got nods.
So ... it's Oscar hopeful, commercial projects that really could be at a studio if they weren't embarrassed to release horror porn or ethnic comedy, or Other, aka The Flukes.
And that brings me back to the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival ...
What was the biggest film festival in the world about, at the core? Oscar hopefuls, commercial projects that really could be at a studio if they weren't embarrassed to release horror porn or ethnic comedy, and Others, aka The Flukes.
As Manohla Dargis put it, "if Antonioni were directing features today, there's a good chance that his films would not be picked up for distribution in the United States." Of course, that's not really true. Almodovar, Haneke, Kitano, LeConte, Zhang Yimou, and Tykwer, amongst others are regulars in U.S. cinemas. I'm not quite sure that I am ready to put Catherine Breillat in the Antonioni category. But more importantly, I worry that we are devaluing IFC distribution of films as though foreign product ever got much better, with exceptions ... the same kinds of exceptions that still exist.
Fact is, I am more concerned myself about the lack of any form of distribution at all in America for the world's more commercial cinema. If I want to promote the viewing of foreign language cinema to people who are not already seeking it out - that would be you, Manohla - I need Hero and Kung Fu Hustle and Banlieue 13 (which got domestic distribution) as well as OSS 117: Nest of Spies and Swing Girls (which did not).
Jacques Rivette's Ne Touchez Pas la Hache isn't a difficult film ... if you are looking for a good foreign film. Eric Rohmer has an even better established history of being an audience friendly foreign language filmmaker ... and has long had a spotty history of US distribution. Francois Ozon had a $3 million success for Focus with 8 Women followed by a $10 million smash with Swimming Pool ... which led to a 5 screen distribution of his next film - the beautiful, understated, and budgets at under $1 million, Time To Leave - and no distribution of his first English-language film which premiered at Berlin and just played at Toronto, Angel.
But back to IFC ... they distributed 29 films last year ... only 10 on 10 screens or more at any one time. A total of zero films distributed by Strand cracked double digits. On the other hand, eight of Sony Classics' 17 titles last year were on at least 50 screens at some point in their run ... and two were on over 1000.
Pick your poison, the business of distributing films is simply stratified and it has nothing much to do with the film festival circuit. Much like the media, the festivals are in the awkward position of, for the most part, going in with serious aspirations and then getting completely distracted by the attention that comes from a sale or two or a high-end celebrity appearance. TIFF is NOT a sales festival. A few movies sell out of the fest. But it just isn't that kind of festival.
The thing is, very few movies actually land first in Toronto. And like the shell that is the American Film Market and the AFI Festival (which recently made some changes and will come out swinging), TIFF is seriously affected by the world getting smaller and smaller and the buyers who have the muscle to actually do a significant American distribution of a film being able to call the shots before they ever get to a festival. Cannes and Sundance are in the habit of having their films held until seen at the festivals. TIFF, Berlin, and Venice ... not so much.
Sony Classics, in the meanwhile, brought nine films to Toronto ... nine ... TO ... the festival.
Searchlight brought their Fall with the exception of Darjeeling, which is opening NY. The Weinsteins brought their Fall ... and bought some DVD titles for Genius. Miramax brought all but the Affleck, though Mr. Affleck did turn up in town. Focus brought their fall, one of which opened before the festival ended. Par Vantage brought two and left two home. Universal was the only studio to risk a big Oscar hopeful ... and left their other two at home.
Why can't Catherine Breillat get distribution in the United States? Because fewer than 200 a day went to see her last film released here, Sex Is Comedy, over its opening weekend in New York ... . probably fewer than 150, actually. And about 5000 people saw it in its entire American run. More people probably saw the film at film festivals than in its whole American run.
IFC spent a lot more money releasing I Am A Sex Addict and got a lot of industry attention through the rantings and ravings of the filmmaker over Mark Cuban's decision to leave the film hanging at Landmark theaters because of IFC's decision to try non-HDNet day-n-date releasing with the title. Still ... about 12,500 people saw that film in theaters. Again, at its peak, fewer than 200 people per theater per day.
We have seen the niche ... and it is us.
In Part II ... does "Great" even matter? And what were the best and worst of the fest?
