Will A Return To In-Person Sundance Fire Up The Indie Film Biz?

  • 📰 DEADLINE
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 94 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 41%
  • Publisher: 63%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

The Sundance Film Festival returns in-person beginning Thursday after being sidelined by Covid for two editions, and three years of struggle to climb out of an abyss. The indies have emerged from a…

With Netflix, sources, including company insiders, have said the streamer of late mostly debuts titles at Sundance, versus making opulent acquisitions — read, its big-time $12.5M acquisitionin 2017. This year, the service run by Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos is premiering the documentary, which follows investigative journalist Rae de Leon who uncovers a shocking pattern of young women who’ve reported their sexual assault to the cops, only to be charged with making a false report.

“It’s not like they are brand new, on the market for the first time. They are educated as buyers. They have been at it for a while. They know who their audiences are, they know their subscribers. They have a better handle of what works on their platform and what doesn’t,” said one industry executive. “Also, they’ve beefed up their own internal production divisions so there isn’t that desperate need to fill the shelves. They can be much more targeted, shopping for what they need, what they want.

At the very least, producers and traditional distributors have “more tools in their toolkit — different windows, different rights, different terms offered to a financier they wouldn’t have been able to offer a few years ago,” said one exec. It’s not equal footing exactly – streamers can’t be matched in terms of upfront fees. But there’s a lot more optionality on approaching deals.

Despite all the gloom and doom at the indie box office, the specialty sector totaled $258.4M last year, up 117% vs. 2021, from an increased supply of 855 titles, up 350 from 2021. Still, the 2022 indie box office per ComScore was down 43% compared with 2019’s near half-billion grossing level, which came from more than 1,000 movies.as that distributor’s highest-grossing movie ever at $70M domestic, $104M global provided a lot of optimism for the specialty sector.

“Younger audiences are engaged, and they want to see new and fresh and different and are willing to come out for it,” says Bocco. Kyle Edward Ball’s debut horror— with a budget of $15,000 — grossed $895,000 over the four-day holiday last weekend for IFC at 692 theaters.“As generations get older and culture changes, what people want to see changes. We can’t expect that it will remain the same,” she said. “It’s kind of exciting to figure that out. It’s clearly a transitional market.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 109. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

After two virtual years, Sundance Film Festival returns to Park CityThere are documentaries about the war in Ukraine with '20 Days in Mariupol,' as well as stories about women in Iran, transgender people and films about indigenous communities.
Source: fox13 - 🏆 550. / 51 Read more »

In our digital world, what is the future of the Sundance Film Festival?Breaking through at Park City still matters for established and aspiring filmmakers—but for different reasons than you might think
Source: TheAVClub - 🏆 340. / 59 Read more »

Film festival programmer Heidi Zwicker on what to watch at Sundance this yearNorth Shore native Heidi Zwicker talks about her Massachusetts roots, her road to Sundance and what films to watch at the festival, many of which are available to watch online starting Jan. 24.
Source: WBUR - 🏆 274. / 63 Read more »

Outfest Outpost to Celebrate Queer Storytelling at 2023 Sundance Film FestivalThis year’s Sundance Film Festival will see the inclusion of Outfest Outpost at Acura Festival Village. The on-site and digital hub for queer films and artists selected at Sundance and Slamda… Looking forward to Zoe Terakes' discussion about TALKTOME 🙌
Source: Variety - 🏆 108. / 63 Read more »

Sundance Readies Big Return as Indie Film Business Struggles to SurviveWhen Joana Vicente was a producer and later an independent film executive, she would take her young children with her to Sundance so they could learn to ski while she saw the latest movies. The pla…
Source: Variety - 🏆 108. / 63 Read more »

Updated: Survival tips for attending the Sundance Film FestivalIt's been three years since the Sundance Film Festival has been held in person in Utah. So there may be some things about the festival experience that some people have forgotten. Here are some tips to navigate the craziness.
Source: sltrib - 🏆 316. / 61 Read more »