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Annapurna, the independent film company run by billionaire heiress Megan Ellison, has financial problems and reduced its ambitions. either the Disney model or Blumhouse.
In other words, they must either be large, splashy, IP-based franchises (Marvel, Star Wars, etc.) that are distributed, marketed, and promoted by a powerful global entertainment conglomerate like Disney. Or they must be made cheaply for a specific audience – in the case of Blumhouse, horror lovers – who have proven themselves in the projection of movies in theaters.
This month A star is born, which is already booming at the box office, is a rare anomaly. Designed for $ 36 million, the film is a big screen romance on the big screen (though it's meant for dedicated fans thanks to its star, Lady Gaga, and the movie itself, which is the fourth adaptation ).
Everything else falls into the category of risky bets. In the era of Netflix, when there are more home viewing options than ever before, these bets are rarely profitable. The only exception is for real independents who are manufactured at such a low price that they have the opportunity to recover their costs. (Even these are now often distributed by Netflix and Amazon.)
But Annapurna has never been that. Despite his author-easy reputation, reflecting the tastes of Ellison's filmmaker, the company wanted from the beginning that the company wanted to have it both ways: films with independent sensitivity with non-independent budgets. Vice, David O. Russell's upcoming Dick Cheney film cost $ 60 million. It seems very good! But rest.
Another upcoming film based on Roger Ailes and Fox News, has a price of $ 35 million, which is the cost of A star is born. Wings is at the heart of Annapurna's problems; the company would have taken a completion bond to complete it and would now buy it from another buyer. Then there was Detroit, Kathryn Bigelow's $ 35 million movie, and Annapurna tripled its membership to 120 so that it could go out independently last summer. (The movie blew up $ 16.8 million.)
With Ellison's family resources (his father, Larry Ellison, rises to $ 58 billion), there is no reason to think that the Annapurna will be destroyed soon. But in the future, the company will have to adhere more closely to the new Hollywood reality, as gloomy as it may be for movie buffs and test-takers.
A good model is A24, an independent studio that has adapted to its time and continued to spend money, focusing its marketing efforts on smart and inspiring online campaigns, and concluding second window agreements with Amazon Prime and DirecTV. As for film production, A24 keeps budgets under $ 10 million while taking risks for lesser-known filmmakers he believes in. The formula has paid off with movies like the one that won an Oscar Moonlight, Lady Bird, and Eigth year.
Lean businesses are generally lean by necessity. Annapurna never needed to be part of his DNA. As a passionate vanity project for an heiress, Ellison and his father have already invested $ 200 million in the company. Will he be able to move up a gear and adapt to a more agile model? Arthouse moviegoers hope for it well.
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