Test Current

In a blow to film lovers everywhere it’s been announced that the two Indie Film divisions of Warner Brothers, Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse, are closing.

These divisions haven’t been as successful as their industry counterparts; Fox Searchlight and Focus Features – the Indie divisions of Fox & Universal Pictures. There has been recent success however with Picturehouse bringing films such as “Pan’s Labyrinth” to the screen and Warner Independent’s “March of the Penguins.”

Warner Brothers wasn’t ahead of the curve on this one, with Warner Independent not up and running till 2003. By then every other major studio had their independent division in place.

Pull out your corporate family tree chart to follow this next part. Warner Brothers is owned by Time Warner and back in February Warner Brothers merged with New Line Cinema. No doubt the big boys at Time Warner just figure they can turn out films under the Warner Brothers marquee and save money eliminating any duplication of staff.

Read the LA Times article here.