Remember when IFC Films was the tiniest of little boutique labels with a catlogue filled with tiny little arthouse films and not much else? Yeah, those days are long gone. With the exception of Black Dynamite - which Sony got - it seems as though IFC have nabbed all of the best stuff at this year's Sundance Festival. I've honestly lost track of the acquisition announcements but at the top of their purchase list were both Norwegian Nazi zombie comedy Dead Snow and - hurray! - Armando Iannucci's debut feature film In The Loop. Now my only question is whether someone picked up Nicolas Refn's Bronson ...
Wait, what's Black Dynamite?
Yeah, of course I'm kidding. I've seen the dozens of articles repeatedly mentioning it or flaunting it. Because people wouldn't be able to follow a film after just watching a trailer. Wonder how much you guys got paid to flaunt that film.
But hey, what's a tiny mention of the film in an unrelated article going to hurt. B-)
Let's hope all these good films don't wind up where they put THE CHASER and THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD.
Which is to say, nowhere!
I hate to say it but IFC has been treating many of their acquisitions over the past two years with little respect. "Oh yeah, let's drop it in our IFC center in NYC and on demand service. Everyone can see it then. And then maybe... maybe we will release it on DVD with the wrong aspect ratio."
Magnolia, as of late has been doing a much better job, when comparing similar sized companies and type of films released.
"Wonder how much you guys got paid to flaunt that film."
Millions my friend, millions.
I'm bathing in champagne and wiping my ass with silk.
Somebody, namely Todd Brown, is definitely drinking the Kool Aid. "The best films in Sundance." Really? DEAD SNOW was a total rank P.O.S. Also, Ben Umstead says it best. Since when did buying a film equate with being able to distribute a film? Two very different things. Anybody can buy a movie, but I defy anyone to match Magnolia/Magnet's ability to launch these kind of films. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN anybody?
I like Kool Aid.
The launching and distributing conversation is an interesting one, actually. IFC is at the front of a different type of distribution, one that is proving phenomenally successful for both them and the films they buy. Which is why we've seen them go from buying a handful of titles every year to being far and away the most active buyer of indie and foreign film in North America right now. I've done my share of griping about how many of these things go VOD as opposed to theatrical but the fact is VOD is much more accessible to a far greater number of people and it's getting the films in front of an audience.