No niche king emerges at Toronto
Playing field level due to few hot pics
Before last year's rancorous divorce from Disney, Bob and Harvey Weinstein's influence was so ubiquitous on the festival circuit that they could affect deals they weren't actually involved in: Rival specialty units went so far as to buy films simply to keep product away from the undisputed kings of the niche world.
But over the past 18 months, major management changes have taken place at every studio arthouse division save Sony Pictures Classics, meaning the chemistry on the niche circuit was undergoing a radical shift. And it raised the question which company would become the new king.
The Weinstein Co. has been created along with Picturehouse; the reconfigured Paramount Vantage, Miramax and MGM/UA; then there was the knockout showing of Fox Searchlight in 2004 and Warner Independent in 2005; and Lionsgate's Oscar win with "Crash."
But with the festival season in full swing, the crown is still unclaimed.
In terms of acquisitions and showcases, as Toronto demonstrated, it seems to be a level playing field, and no company has emerged as the undisputed leader. That's partly because each company is still figuring out its own business plan -- and because there has been no filmmaker or film to put the company on the map, in the way "Pulp Fiction" did with Miramax.
"There seems to be a parity among all the players," says sales agent Rena Ronson at William Morris Independent.
There were a few pick-ups at last week's Toronto Film Fest. The Weinsteins nabbed a pair of pics: hipster horror film "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" from first-time director Jonathan Levine and stand-up tour pic "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show."
The other features to find U.S. theatrical distribution last week included Werner Herzog's Vietnam-war set feature "Rescue Dawn," which was picked up by MGM, and thesp Sarah Polley's helming debut "Away From Her," bought by Lionsgate.
But execs on the hunt for the sort of pics that can become commercial hits, such as "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Thank You for Smoking" (purchased by Fox Searchlight at Sundance in January and in Toronto last year, respectively) were disappointed by the fare on display at last week's fest.
"A lot of companies are looking for that big home run," says Sony Classics co-prexy Michael Barker, "and that kind of film has not revealed itself this year."
There is a dearth of fresh independent-minded talent of the Steven Soderbergh or Quentin Tarantino variety that independents and specialty labels have used to build their reputations. Fest films drawing attention were largely either genre pics or docus from sidebar sections or entries from old-timers like Werner Herzog, Phillip Noyce and Paul Verhoeven.
Barker and Tom Bernard's 14-year stint at the helm of the division is a rarity in the business these days. Much of the flux seems to go back to the expiration of the Weinsteins' Disney employment contracts in September 2005, when international vet Daniel Battsek was moved from London to Gotham to run Miramax.
The Weinstein Co. set up shop at that time, joining a number of players that didn't exist two years ago. New Line and HBO launched Picturehouse at Cannes in 2005 with former Newmarket maestro Bob Berney. Two years later, that company is still looking for its first break-out hit. Newmarket continued its philosophy of releasing pics that scare other distribs, buying the fest's buzziest title, "Death of a President."
MGM, too, is still coming into focus. Its buy of "Rescue Dawn" -- which had been on the market for some time -- came as topper Harry Sloan promised that the studio would be jumping into the tentpole business.
Also looking to establish himself is former tenpercenter John Lesher, who was hired last fall to run a reorganized Paramount Vantage, which is pushing Brad Pitt starrer "Babel" for this year's awards season.
Another new face in the specialty game is Polly Cohen at Warner Independent Pictures; she moved over to the unit from Warner Bros. to replace Mark Gill last May.
While the faces have mostly stayed the same at Fox Searchlight and Focus Features, both are adjusting to different management: Peter Rice has been dividing his time between Searchlight and the launch of a new youth and genre-focused production unit, Fox Atomic. And after a long partnership, James Schamus is the sole head of Focus these days following David Linde's promotion in March to be co-chair of Universal Pictures.
All the turmoil at the studio-owned divisions has created an opening for the real indies. While Lionsgate has made its reputation (as well as a ton of money) on genre pictures, its execs say the "Away From Her" buy was a signal that it still wants to be in the prestige pic game.
Much smaller companies also are trying to make headway. Indie distribs like Roadside Attractions and ThinkFilm are finding themselves kicking the same tires as their traditionally bigger studio-owned cousins.
Meanwhile, big players from outside the world of film are moving in from the fringes. At the reconfigured Starz Media, Chris McGurk has plans to produce prestige and comedy pics through a new theatrical distrib arm. Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban have proved to be major financiers of specialty films, after building a new distribution model with their tandem of Landmark Theaters, Magnolia Pictures and HDNet cabler. Their arch-rivals at Cablevision-owned IFC are pursuing the same strategy.
It's a good thing that so many of these business plans have fall-back positions, from the Fox Atomic's youth slant to Starz's comedy concentration, because original American narrative filmmakers seem to be thin on the ground, if recent fests are any indication.
