2929 Entertainment's specialty distrib Magnolia Pictures has been growing and surviving--under the leadership of Eamonn Bowles and owners Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, who also own HDNet and the indie Landmark Theatre chain. Magnolia released 27 pics in the last year--and plans to keep up that pace. Many of them don't go out that wide, or are booked on Landmark screens, while Flawless, starring Demi Moore, and some others have succeeded beyond expectations as "Ultra-VOD" releases. Here's my pre-Toronto column on the state of indie distribution.
Bowles is having a busy year: he's releasing two movies that 2929 had hoped to sell to another distrib, but will release themselves: Art Linson and Barry Levinson's Hollywood comedy What Just Happened?, with a big-name cast led by Robert DeNiro, which will not pursue the VOD model, and James Gray's well-reviewed Cannes entry, the triangle romance Two Lovers, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwenyth Paltrow, which has not yet been dated. Wonder if they'll take the VOD route on that one?
Source: Variety
Thanks to Evie.
