The Global Film Village

Film Execs look at the state of Indie Distribution

// January 27th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Industry Trends

by Marc Halperin

The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, some  films are being bought and others are not. Understanding the reasons for these decisions is critical for independent filmmakers.  Film Independent recently produced a round table that focused on indie distribution. It’s an offshoot from their Filmmaker Forum, which was held over an entire weekend in early October. This discussion looked at the economics of distribution; traditional, DIY, and digital strategies. The panelists also addressed the state of film distribution: past, present, and future. Their goal throughout this series was to give filmmakers the unvarnished truth and to look at the industry as it exists. It was Moderated by: Tom Bernard, Co-President, Sony Pictures Classics. Panelists included: Jonathan Sehring, President, IFC Entertainment, Tony Safford, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Acquisitions, Fox Searchlight, Udi Epstein, 7th Art , Jeff Dowd, Producer’s Rep and Eamonn Bowles, President, Magnolia Pictures. (more…)

Best Buy to Open Online Store for Movies that will compete with iTunes

// November 3rd, 2009 // Comments Off // Industry Trends

by Marc Halperin

Adam Satariano of Bloomberg reports that Best Buy Co., the world’s largest electronics retailer, will soon compete with market leading Apple’s iTunes online store to sell movies and television shows.  The new service will use Sonic’s Roxio CinemaNow technology which will be installed on televisions, computers, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes and mobile phones sold by Best Buy .  Sonic Solutions Inc. will license the technology to Best Buy according to a statement today from both companies. Sonic’s technology will be included on devices made by Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp. Panasonic Corp., Toshiba Corp. and other manufacturers. The service will allow customers to buy or rent new releases, according to the statement.

The Roxio CinemaNow digital movie service will use some of the same technology used to encode Blu-ray films to stream movies in 1080p resolution. (more…)