Film Industry Articles You Should Read

What happens when animation keeps going Up?

The Hollywood Reporter’s Risky Biz Blog reports that 2009 is poised to be the first time ever that more than five movies will exceed $100m in box office revenues.  Up, Ice Age and Monsters vs. Aliens already did it, and the Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel — er, squeakuel — will do it; the only question is whether Meatballs and Disney’s hand-drawn The Princess and the Frog have the stuff.  Even without them, the sector could get over the hump thanks to Pixar’s re-release of the two Toy Story pics.

A New Venue for Indie Films: Your iPhone

Did you see the latest Jude Law movie?  The film titled Rage is a murder mystery from art house director Sally Potter.  Potter went an entirely different route for her new indie flick: Rage premiered exclusively on the iPhone through the mobile application Babelgum. This begs the question, does anyone really want to watch a full-length film on their mobile phone?  Industry insiders are watching (pun intended) with deep curiosity.

Sites Specific: Can Streaming Save Indie Film?

The way we watch movies is changing. And no one knows how, in the not so distant future, cinema’s going to be consumed — especially those independent and art films that are increasingly unloved by the Hollywood distribution system. Multiplexes may not be the place for defiantly indie cinema, but are iPods, Xboxes, laptops and flat-screens their next best hope?

ReadWriteWeb’s Top 5 Web Trends of 2009:

1. Structured Data
2. The Real-Time Web
3. Personalization
4. Mobile Web & Augmented Reality
5. Internet of Things

THR: Distributor Report Cards

• Lionsgate
• Overture Films
• Summit Entertainment
• The Weinstein Co.
• Focus Features
• Fox Searchlight
• Miramax
• Sony Pictures Classics
• Freestyle Releasing
• IFC Films
• Magnolia Pictures
• Here Films
• Oscilloscope Laboratories
• Peach Arch
• Roadside Attractions
• Samuel Goldwyn Films
• Zeitgeist Films