Specialty films a hard sell at Cannes

Niche features look for new selling points

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

As the Cannes market moves into gear, no one here for the 61st Cannes Film Festival can easily forget what a dismal time it’s been at the specialty boxoffice.

With niche pics experiencing a lamentable fall and spring, and with marketing costs rising, buyers and sellers alike are figuring out new strategies to deal with the changes. “It’s turned strange,” one specialty distrib exec said. “How do you attract people’s attention?”

All the rules are changing. Traditional platform releases, the heart and soul of the independent film biz, are being threatened. Studio specialty arms in particular are going through an identity crisis as they plot new distribution strategies to compensate for too many films and ever more expensive projects.

Even with the shifting sands, there’s sure to be a crop of films picked up at Cannes by North American distributors. But the market is increasingly splitting into two distinct classes of indie projects: The expensive “event” projects -- epitomized by Soderbergh’s companion Che Guevara biopics, which together cost $61.5 million to produce -- and the under-$10 million, more traditional arthouse crowd.

Last fall, a dizzying number of specialty films vied for attention, but few succeeded, even with critical acclaim. Oscar best picture noms were ultimately able to drum up good business -- “Atonement” and “No Country for Old Men” performed nicely and “Juno” was a runaway hit -- but it was tough going otherwise.

Studio specialty arms say they have no choice but to reevaluate release strategies, particularly as they spend more and more to acquire titles. And with an increasing number of films in release, it’s harder to hold onto screens, which means slow platform releases are becoming an endangered species.

A wider opening means more money for prints and advertising. The whole idea of opening a film in a limited number of theaters was to save on costs and relying more on word of mouth and critical acclaim.

“People are now spending more money to open specialty films, but they are opening at best only decently,” said another indie distributor.

The specialty biz also got a shock when Warner Bros. announced on the eve of Cannes that it was shuttering Warner Independent Pictures and Bob Berney’s Picturehouse, a move that took out two buyers overnight. In discussing the decision, Warner Bros.’ Alan Horn said his studio isn’t getting out of the specialty biz, and that if a studio knows how to market and distribute both a specialty and more commercial title.

So far this year, the top-grossing specialty films avoided the platform route that used to be standard for smaller films.

Focus Features opened the Amy Adams-Frances McDormand romp “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” in 535 theaters. The film cumed $12.2 million domestically, making it the top grossing specialty film of 2008 to date. The Weinstein Co./Fox Searchlight’s “Under the Same Moon” grossed $12.2 million after opening in 266 theaters.

In early April, Miramax opened “Smart People” in 1,106 theaters. Pic has cumed $9 million domestically.

Among traditional limited releases, Focus’ “In Bruges” has done the best for a 2008 release, opening in 28 theaters and grossing $7.5 million.

Last year, the spring specialty box office fared better, even though they began as platform releases. Fox Searchlight’s “Waitress” opened in four locations on its way to grossing $19 million domestically. Searchlight’s “The Namesake,” unspooling in six runs, grossed $13.6 million.

During the same frame in 2006, “Thank You For Smoking,” opening in 5 runs, grossed $24.8 million. “Friends With Money,” bowing in 28, grossed $13.4 million domestically.