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ThinkFilm: Bergstein’s Long Tail Defense

Karina Longworth
By Karina Longworth posted 3 months ago
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The headline to this Hollywood Reporter story is pure provocation: “Has ThinkFilm Lost Its Mind?” The three pages that follow offer little in the way of analysis of the sanity of the studio’s recent moves; instead, Alex Ben Block contrasts angry accusations from filmmakers who claim to have been wronged by the distributor, with defensive statements from Think/Capitol Films head David Bergstein.

The big takeaway (beyond Betstain’s annoying insistence that “he has image problems because nobody in Hollywood really knows him”) is his repeated claim that he’s not really concerned with the short term  profits and losses associated with theatrical releases (which probably won’t sound like news to certain filmmakers he’s worked with over the past year). Instead, he’s got his eyes on building a digital rights library that can be leveraged when the current modes of distribution and consumption become extinct. “Our business plan is not so much about the movie business,” he told Block. “It’s really to build a global digital distribution business. It’s based on the expectation that in the not too distant future most content will be delivered digitally and on-demand.”

And apparently, he’s perfectly content enraging filmmakers and creditors today in order to come out ahead of the flop on a longer timeline. More details––including details on Bergstein’s future acquisitions plans, the status of David O. Russell’s beleaguered Think production, and testimony from apparently the only Think-associated filmmaker willing to come out and defend the company’s leader––after the jump.

…Read more

THINKFilm Nailed Again. Trade Roughage 06/25/08

Karina Longworth
By Karina Longworth posted 5 months ago
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  • Nailed, that David O. Russell film that keeps having to halt production because of THINKFilm’s financial troubles, has shut down for the fourth time. Meanwhile, yesterday THINK closed its Toronto office, which housed 25 employees as recently as the end of 2007. Randy Manis, VP of acquisitions and a co-founder of the company, is one Toronto-based exec cutting ties with the company;”It has not been the easiest time in the company with so many people we worked with wanting things,” he told Variety.
  • The apparent unwatchability of Hancock is a big topic of conversation here in Los Angeles this week. Todd McCarthy at Variety is the first to go public with his distaste; he warns, “Although it will inevitably open very large, this odd and perplexing aspiring tentpole will provide a real test of Smith’s box office invincibility.”
  • 96 countries have been sent entry forms for the Best Foreign Language Oscar nomination.
  • X Files creator Chris Carter is apparently directing a secret movie starring David Cassidy’s daughter and rapper Xzibit. It may be secret for a reason.

Gangsters and Strikers: Trade Roughage 11/05/07

Karina Longworth
By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago
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  • American Gangster managed “the highest opening for an R-rated crime drama in history” this weekend, earning $46.3 million to Bee Movie’s $39.1 million at the box office. The animated film opened on almost 25 percent more screens than Ridley Scott’s love letter to a 70s drug kingpin. Meanwhile, Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead added 40 screens and saw its weekend take rise 440 percent. Julien Temple’s doc Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten scored the highest per-screen average of the weekend, with $10,193 on each of its two screens.
  • David O. Russell will direct a “risque political satire” called Nailed, which he’ll co-write with Kristin “Daughter of Al” Gore. Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal have already been cast, but the Hollywood Reporter story gives the impression that the script has yet to be written. Which might be a problem, because…
  • Last minute talks were unable to head off a strike. Movie studios are not so worried … yet. Enough preparation was done pre-strike to ensure a more or less full release schedule for 2008; the immediate problem, is that with late night shows expected to shut down until there’s a new WGA contract, stars and filmmakers will have to find a new venue for cheap promotion.
  • The American Film Market “has gotten off to its slowest start in recent memory.” The biggest deal of the event so far: Sony agreed to fully finance and handle most distribution for Peter Jackson’s District 9.