The folks at OpenIndie, the new film distribution concept launched by Arin Crumley and Kieran Masterson, need to raise just $108 in the next 31 hours, to support their new initiative. I finally donated today (sorry for the delay). Will you join?
Universal president and COO offered a rather surprising quote to my colleague Anne Thompson, “Shit happens,” Ron Meyer said. “We needed to get back on the horse riding in the same direction.”
How will this affect their specialty divisions: Miramax at Disney and Focus at Universal? Before announcing the new studio head, Disney laid its cards on the table on Friday, cutting off Miramax at the knees and barely keeping it alive with just three films per year and a much smaller staff of about 20. On the other hand, Universal is supporting Focus.
Outgoing co-chair David Linde was James Schamus and Ted Hope’s business partner back at Good Machine before the company was acquired by Universal in 2002 and he later oversaw the specialty division when he became studio chief. Some worried that the departure of Linde might be bad news for Focus. But, Langley spoke up in support of the unit yesterday.
“In comparison with the other specialty divisions,” Langley told Anne Thompson, “They are profitable, and have been for eight years. James Schamus runs an excellent business, one I’m happy to be working with.”
As I tried to explore in yesterday’s column, the specialty studio model exploded in the 90s and then died in this decade. Universal’s Focus, which funds and produces specialized films, is singular among studios in its vision for creating interesting cinema. Meanwhile, Sony’s SPC makes some movies but importantly remains the last studio division buying acclaimed foreign films from film festivals. The majority of other such releases are coming primarily from IFC Films, Magnolia and others.
The landscape has certainly changed. How will it evolve in the next few years?
For years at indieWIRE we’ve braced ourselves for the rare seismic indie film story. The sort of breaking news that would stun us and our readers. Anticipating that moment, during editorial meetings, we’d often say things like, “Imagine we just found out that Geoff was leaving Sundance…”
Today, that’s exactly what happened.
The last time I can remember being as surprised by a piece of industry news was seven years ago—in May of 2002—when Universal announced the acquisition of Good Machine and its plan to merge it with USA Films (eventually creating Focus Features).
Many, many people were shocked today. I was inundated by emails and IMs reacting and asking a lot of questions.
Folks are curious what this means for Peter Scarlet and Nancy Schafer at Tribeca, two U.S. fest vets—from SFIFF and SXSW respectively—who are in place atop the Tribeca fest. Gilmore and insiders were quick to clarify that he is not moving to New York to run the Tribeca festival. But, he will oversee it alongside other the Tribeca Enterprises business units under his umbrella. Chatting with a reporter tonight, I quipped that the putting another fest vet under Tribeca’s roof feels a bit like the “team of rivals” approach being attributed to the new Obama registration. I’m sure they’d rather look at its an “all-star” team approach. Whatever the case, its a huge scoop for Tribeca. And while Sundance is certainly well-stocked with a strong team, Geoff Gilmore was a major Sundance figure, in industry circles as synonymous with Sundance as Robert Redford.
Anyway, it will be interesting to watch it all develop.
Oh, and I have to mention that found it rather odd that when we got the news early this morning none of the principles were available to discuss it: Gilmore was in Europe, Sundance didn’t have a statement from Robert Redford ready, and Tribeca’s Jane Rosenthal couldn’t talk. We eventually reached Gilmore and got a brief statement from Redford. But, nothing from Rosenthal.
Cinetic partners John Sloss and Bart Walker told me today that Harvey Weinstein is “over-reaching” in his legal battle to get “Push” from Lionsgate. While a high-profile Weinstein attorney said that TWC had “a firm agreement,” Sloss and Walker said today in their statement that there was no deal with Harvey and that negotiations with TWC were unresolved.
On Friday I heard from an industry source that Overture was closing a deal for the movie. They wanted the movie, badly, but folks at the company were in the dark on Friday afternoon, hoping that they would get the movie, but wondering who else was in the mix. Knowing that Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry were on board to back the movie, later that night, I caught wind that a Lionsgate deal for the film was closing imminently at Cinetic’s New York office, but a Lionsgate rep declined to confirm the sale, telling me that the deal was not sealed and adding that, “multiple sources are probably using it to help push a deal along.” They announced the sale on Monday, touting Winfrey and Perry.
Insiders are saying that, without paper or a handshake, the matter will be resolved in favor of Lionsgate once it’s in front of a judge. We’ve got the full story now at indieWIRE.com. And on his blog, Eric Kohn compares the legal battle to the recent “Watchmen” situation.
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