Crowded Indie Market Ratchets Up Competition For An Uncertain Audience – Specialty Preview

Indie distributors are fretting about the current marketplace, specifically a glut of films vying for precious theater space and hard-to-snare audiences who, with exceptions of course, still seems mostly willing to come out for big ticket films.

While there are fewer wide studio releases than pre-Covid, theaters are giving them more space, up to 60%-70% of their real estate, a few indies execs said.

Meanwhile, it’s become cheaper to distribute films, which may be why new firms keep popping up to test the waters and in some cases open their movies on hundreds of screens, perhaps without a commensurate marketing effort.

“There is a lot of stuff being released, but nothing is performing,” says one indie distribution executive. Films like Deadpool or Beetlejuice Beetlejuice work, “but everything else is a crapshoot.

“Whether consumers are going to movies other that the big ones has been the question, and still is.”

“The new normal is so many movies being released every week a lot wider,” notes another exec, speculating that the glut of moderate releases may be a delayed effect of the end of most virtual print fees (VPF). That happened a few years ago but may have taken a bit to work through. So while it used to cost $1 million to release a film on 1,000 screens, he said, now it costs under $100k.

“All you need to do is find someone who can physically show the movie to exhibitors and book it.”

This weekend Lee, Azreal, Megalopolis, Vindicating Trump and Notice To Quit are all opening in moderate to wide release. My Old Ass by Megan Park, from Amazon MGM, has a big expansion to 1,390 theaters.

Roadside Attraction’s drama Lee directed by Ellen Kouras, produced by and starring Kate Winslet, opens on 854 screens. The little known story of famous runway model Elizabeth `Lee’ Miller’s daring career shift to become an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II. Also stars Josh O’Connor and Andrea Riseborough. The film, which premiered at TIFF last year, is a passion project for Winslet, who has been doing full court press on late night and morning shows with screenings on both coasts including an NYC premiere this week at MoMA. Kirstin Dunst’s photojournalist character in Civil War, Lee, is named for Lee Miller. See Deadline review.

IFC Film/Shudder horror Azrael by E.L. Katz debuts at 762 theaters. The film, from the producers of Longlegs, stars official scream queen Samara Weaving (Scream VI, Babysitter, Mayhem). In a world in which no one speaks, a mysterious, devout community hunts down a young woman named Azrael (Weaving) who has escaped their imprisonment.

Lionsgate is releasing Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed epic Megalopolis at 1,854 theaters including 238 Imax screens and 45 premium large format screens, with an interactive component. Stars Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito and Nathalie Emmanuel. The city of New Rome sparks conflict between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favor of a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved.

SDG Releasing’s Vindicating Trump by right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza opens at 813 theaters. The trailer for the pro-Trump documentary played at all showings of Am I Racist?, the recently released popular doc by Conservative podcaster Matt Walsh that’s still going.

Notice To Quit by Simon Hacker debuts on 400 screens courtesy of Whiskey Creek Distribution, a new arm of retired NBA All-Star Gordon Hayword and Hacker’s Whiskey Creek Productions. Stars Michael Zegen, Kasey Bella Suarez, Isabel Arraiza, Michael Angelo Covino and Robert Klein. The story of Andy Singer, a struggling New York City realtor, who finds his world crashing down around him when his estranged 10-year-old daughter, Anna, shows up unannounced on his doorstep in the middle of his eviction.

Empire Waist from Blue Fox Entertainment, the feature debut of writer and director Claire Ayoub, debuts at 115 locations nationally. The film tackles the topic of fat-shaming among teens. When her science class is asked to “pair up” for a project, no one wants to team up with Lenore (Mia Kaplan). As if by magic, the enigmatic Kayla (Semina Yevu) arrives. Most would describe Kayla as fat, yet Kayla embraces the body she has.

Limited releases: Columbia Pictures’ Saturday Night from Jason Reitman, begins a three-step platform release this weekend opening exclusively in a combined five theaters in LA (AMC Century City, AMC The Grove, AMC Burbank) and NY (AMC Lincoln Square, Alamo Brooklyn), expanding October 4 and going wide October 11. The doc, which premiered at Telluride, details the chaotic 90 minutes before Saturday Night Live began its first broadcast on October 11, 1975. See Deadline review.

Magnolia’s Magnet Releasing opens Cannes-premiering horror Sleep, the directorial debut of South Korean writer-director Jason Yu in 25 theaters and on digital. Follows newlyweds Hyun-su (the late Parasite start Lee Sun-kyun) and Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), whose domestic bliss is disrupted when Hyun-su develops a dangerous REM sleep disorder. At 95% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.