Monthly Archives: June 2023

Academy makes it harder for indies to qualify for Best Picture in 2024

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Josh Rottenberg and Glenn Whipp report in The Los Angeles Times that The Oscars are changing the rules for best picture.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the news on Wednesday, June 21, 2023:

“The Academy’s Board of Governors has approved new requirements to broaden the public theatrical exhibition criteria for Oscars® eligibility in the Best Picture category starting with the 97th Academy Awards®, for films released in 2024.
Upon completion of an initial qualifying run, currently defined as a one-week theatrical release in one of the six U.S. qualifying cities, a film must meet the following additional theatrical standards for Best Picture eligibility:

  • Expanded theatrical run of seven days, consecutive or non-consecutive, in 10 of the top 50 U.S. markets, no later than 45 days after the initial release in 2024.
  • For late-in-the-year films with expansions after January 10, 2025, distributors must submit release plans to the Academy for verification.
  • Release plans for late-in-the-year films must include a planned expanded theatrical run, as described above, to be completed no later than January 24, 2025.
  • Non-U.S. territory releases can count towards two of the 10 markets.
  • Qualifying non-U.S. markets include the top 15 international theatrical markets plus the home territory for the film.”

My take: These new rules begin in 2024, for Best Picture contenders in the 2025 awards. It’s interesting to compare the number of theatres for winners Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Whale and Nomadland.

The Elevation Pictures Playbook

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Etan Vlessing reports in The Hollywood Reporter on Elevation Pictures’ 10-Year Journey to Canadian Indie Powerhouse.

He notes:

“As an indie distributor, Elevation competes in the shadow of Hollywood studios dominating the local multiplex with star-driven tentpoles by embracing indie filmmakers in Canada and international art house titles.”

“Many of Elevation’s potentially zeitgeist-capturing releases come via output deals with American partners, including Black Bear, Neon and A24, with whom Elevation is a preferred partner north of the border.”

“In all, Elevation releases about 35 indie titles a year, with a third of those locally produced or acquired at festivals on completion that hopefully will become box office winners.”

“Key to Elevation’s proven playbook is that focus on financing homegrown directors and their films, with support from local funding agencies like Telefilm Canada to share the risks and rewards on what can be an uphill battle to launch and monetize Canadian indies.”

My take: I notice on Panoscope that Elevation is almost always the leading Canadian distributor each week.

 

Movie Posters from Ghana

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Joseph Foley admits on Creative Bloq that “I can’t get enough of these incredible Ghanaian film posters.”

Posters advertise movies. Thirty years ago in Ghana, the mobile cinema scene (entrepreneurs with vans, generators, TVs, VCRs and collections of VHS videotapes) needed posters to advertise their screenings. Hence the Ghanaian Film Poster.

Deadly Prey Gallery in Chicago sells prints of these posters. You can also commission the artists.

My take: these posters are fantastic!

Streaming films are pirated immediately

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Tyler Aquilina reports in Variety on The Most Pirated Film Titles of 2022.

“Exclusive data provided to Variety Intelligence Platform by piracy-focused research firm Muso measured 2022 activity across a wide range of piracy sites, including illegal streaming, torrent, web download and stream-ripping platforms. The results reveal that superhero films held a dominant share of illegal viewing in 2022, with Marvel and DC releases collectively accounting for 70% of piracy demand (that is, illicit streams, downloads and the like) for the top 10 most pirated film titles of the year.”

Here are the top ten 2022 most pirated movies:

  1. Spider-Man: No Way Home (21%)
  2. The Batman (13%)
  3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (10%)
  4. Thor: Love and Thunder (9%)
  5. Black Adam (9%)
  6. Uncharted (8%)
  7. Eternals (8%)
  8. Top Gun: Maverick (8%)
  9. Jurassic World Dominion (7%)
  10. Encanto (6%)

“Spikes in a film’s piracy tend to coincide with its release on digital platforms, which enables the availability of high-quality pirated streams or downloads, as opposed to bootleg ‘cam-rip’ versions illicitly recorded in a theater.”

My take: there are two takeaways for me here: 1) once a film streams, it will be pirated immediately (not sure about VOD though,) and therefore 2) theatrical distribution is still a viable way to generate revenue and word-of-mouth for a film.