Posts Tagged ‘Spring’

Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly's "Cyrus" has been one of the recent indie successes

According to Pamela McClintock of Variety.com the “specialty sector”, or independent film market, has received a recent boost in box-office grosses thanks to releases like Mark and Jay Duplass’ Cyrus starring Jonah Hill, John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, and Catherine Keener, a documentary that follows the raising of several children from all over the world titled Babies, as we as several others.

President of Fox Searchlight Steve Gilula says that the recent (relative) success of these independent films are indicative that there “is life in the [indie] market, even as audiences are being more selective.” Some other examples of these films include City Island, Exit Through the Gift Shop, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

These indie successes hope to continue their theatrical and VOD runs, because as with any film the longer the run the more money they make. However, with word of mouth being the primary propellant of their runs such success is almost completely reliant on audience buzz, which is means these films’ futures are harder to predict than most.

One aspect that’s being tentatively attributed to these films’ financial achievements is how there are fewer large-market films being released during the Spring and early Summer months. Also consider the recent Warner Bros. flop Jonah Hex, for example, and it can be said that independent films have had less competition than usual.

The momentum that the “specialty sector” is building right now will be important for the current releases in creating Oscar buzz come Fall and Winter, as well as help later indie releases like Bill Murray and Robert Duvall’s Get Low, which will open July 30th, to do the same by holding the attention of audiences who may become distracted by bigger films such as Inception, Predators, Twilight: Eclipse, Salt, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Tron.

Source: Variety