Now Paramount Closes Their Indie Division
The bad news keeps rolling in for Independent Film as Paramount Pictures announced it will close its indie studio Paramount Vantage. All marketing distribution and production from Paramount Vantage will now be done by Paramount Pictures which is owned by Viacom.
Paramount Vantage had been on quite a streak lately, releasing such acclaimed films as “Babel,” “No Country for old Men,” and “There Will Be Blood” just to name a few. Robert Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, explained that it was a cost cutting move and the fact that division only made six films a year made it difficult to sustain its own staff.
Audiences have been buying-up tickets for independent film in the last few years, causing more competition among the studios and larger marketing budgets to get that audience attention. It was just about this time last month when we reported that Warner Brothers was closing its art house divisions; Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse.
Paramount Vantage, which was launched in 2006, had previously been called Paramount Classics.
More Reading:
The Wall Street Journal article here
LA Times article here
Variety article here
Warner Brothers Closes Indie Divisions
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.
