In Contention

Tag: Apparition

  • Searchlight acquires ‘Tree of Life’ for 2011 release

    Well, things just took a turn for the worse if you’re a Terrence Malick fan desperate to feast your eyes on his latest film, “The Tree of Life.” But they took a turn for the absolute best if you want the film to be taken care of by a studio with resources and savvy awards planning.

    Tuesday it was reported that Bill Pohlad was essentially looking to clean house at Apparition by dumping off the film and drastically cutting the staff.  Word was Pohlad was being shown to distributors, looking for a buyer.

    Well, he found one: Fox Searchlight, but the film will be released in 2011.  When you think about it, it’s a smart move to hold it.  They’re just getting into the project and would have only three months to really prime release and awards strategies.  And the studio already has four horses in the race this year as it is.  So, be patient, and maybe next year we’ll have a real stallion on our hands.

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  • Apparition looking to secure ‘Tree of Life’ distribution deal

    Boy, the story on Apparition and Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” just keeps stacking up the drama.  Mike Fleming reports this afternoon the company has obliterated much of its staff because “there were no films to distribute,” and that Bill Pohlad has been showing the film to studios and is looking for a distribution deal for the film.

    What a difference a year makes, huh?  Just 12 months ago it seemed like there might be a bright new day for indie distributors.  Companies like Apparition, Overture Films, Summit Entertainment, etc. were beginning to get a foothold in what was looking more and more like an underdog season.  The Best Picture winner was a film that came and went at the box office.  Now a guy like Peter Weir can’t get arrested and a Malick film is looking for a little help.

    I imagine at this point we’re probably looking at a 2010 release for the film after all.  Someone is bound to take the plunge (since it’s been since way back in August of last year that Apparition acquired the title).  Let’s hope so, anyway, lest we have another situation akin to “The Way Back.” Meanwhile, another home for this kind of cinema is slowly biting the dust (a downward spiral initiated with Bob Berney’s abrupt pre-Cannes departure).

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  • ‘Tree of Life’ alone in Apparition stable

    Things looked so upbeat for fledgling distribution outfit Apparition when they started out last year. Masterminded by former Picturehouse head Bob Berney, the company was christened with the acquisition of one of 2009’s best films, Jane Campion’s “Bright Star.” A classy roster of titles followed, including “The Young Victoria,” “Fair Game,” “The Runaways” and, most eagerly awaited of all, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.”

    They didn’t quite know what to do with everything they had — “Bright Star” was unfortunately buried by ill-thought scheduling and idle marketing — but they did manage to eke out an Oscar win for “Victoria” before their first birthday, and also nabbed one of the starrier titles at this year’s Sundance fest: the Kristen Stewart and James Gandolfini starrer “Welcome to the Rileys.” Not bad going, particularly in the current indie climate.

    How quickly things change in Hollywood. Just before Cannes, Berney caught industry watchers off-guard by pulling out of Apparition, and the company has been reeling from the shock ever since. Anne Thompson reports that co-founder Bill Pohlad has taken the drastic measure of shutting down their New York office and nearly halving the staff.

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  • Apparition adopts Sundance pic ‘Rileys’

    Kristen Stewart in Welcome to the RileysFresh off their first Oscar win (Best Costume Design for “The Young Victoria”), fledgling distributor Apparition has picked up a well-regarded Sundance indie that could end up buttressing their 2010 awards campaign for Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.”

    “Welcome to the Rileys,” a domestic drama starring James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo as bereaved parents and Kristen Stewart as the teenage prostitute who comes between them, marks the sophomore directorial outing for Jake Scott, son of Sir Ridley. (His sister Jordan, by the way, made a respectable debut last year with “Cracks.” Busy family.)

    Variety reports that Apparition and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group have finalized a seven-figure deal on the film, with a view to an autumn release.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Post early for Christmas

    Jeremy Renner in The Hurt LockerLondon is in the midst of a postal strike. No mail, be it far-flung postcard or electricity bill, has popped through my front door for over a month. I recently had to stroll into Soho to pick up my London Film Festival accreditation pack by hand. And rather discouragingly, my local post office today put a hastily scrawled sign in the window: “Post NOW for delivery by Christmas.”

    If you’re wondering why I’ve started this week’s column with this fascinating tidbit from my domestic life – apart from the fact that, as Kris noted, the crickets are chirping in awardsville this week – it’s because, as I stared disbelievingly at the sign, it occurred to me that a similar memo should be sent to several specialty studios hoping for a stake in this awards season. (Yes, my mind works in curious ways.)

    In short: you have a little package that needs to deliver in time for Oscar consideration? Don’t wait until December. Send it out now.

    This may seem like crazy advice given Oscar voters’ ever-growing love affair with winter releases. Just last year, no pre-November release made the Best Picture cut. And Harvey Weinstein has proved time and again that substantial rewards can be reaped if you spring a film upon the Academy without giving them too much time to think about it – from “The Cider House Rules” to “Chocolat” to “The Reader,” he knows which films won’t survive a few months of critical and industry scrutiny.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Underdog season

    Hal Holbrook in That Evening SunIt suddenly occurred to me when I got a screening invite last week to “That Evening Sun,” a potential awards prospect for lead actor Hal Holbrook, that the film actually had a distributor: Freestyle Releasing.

    Freestyle is a boutique company that doesn’t have a lot on deck, but it reminded me of how spread out this year’s product seems to be across the spectrum of Hollywood distribution, and one more indication of 2009 as perhaps the year of the underdog.

    It’s a generalization, sure, but when heading into the season the frontrunners of the race are a modest character-driven dramedy and an impassioned work of indie art, I think it’s safe to say the trains that could are drawing a line in the sand.

    I recognize the former is a studio-funded piece with one of the industry’s biggest stars in a leading role, but it fits because, like the director’s last film, it was a discovery even to the studio, one that can suddenly be groomed for awards.

    This idea of eschewing the titans of an awards season could be stretching into the business of things as companies like Overture Films, Summit Entertainment, Apparition, Paladin, Monterey Media, Freestyle, etc. are beginning to claim significant portions of the consideration pie…at least in this calm before the storm.

    Others have been here for years, of course.  IFC Films always makes its play.  Magnolia Pictures tends to be in the conversation.  Oscilloscope came pretty close with a great coming out last year (and will no doubt be in the thick of it again).

    The dependents that haven’t been swallowed by their parent companies have made their hay in the awards season, from Focus to Sony Classics to Searchlight, but I remain very enthusiastic, and perhaps overly optimistic, that in an economy such as this, the competitive market has opened up a number of options.

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  • Bill Pohlad on Apparition and working with Malick

    Bill PohladOne of the stories I’m tracking most curiously this awards season is the rise of brand-spanking-new distribution company Apparition, whose impressive slate of upcoming titles belies their fledgling status.

    “The Tree of Life,” “Bright Star” and, to a lesser extent, “The Young Victoria” are obviously the titles on people’s lips right now, but there are some interesting projects in the pipeline too: Doug Liman’s Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson biopic “Fair Game,” with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, as well as music video director Floria Sigismondi’s “The Runaways” — another biopic, this one about the cult girl band of the title.

    Former Picturehouse chief Bob Berney has been the more-discussed name in connection with the outfit, but Variety has a handy little profile of Berney’s Apparition co-pilot Bill Pohlad, whose feature producing career only really started four years ago with “Brokeback Mountain.”

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  • 8/25 Web Round-up

    Charlize Theron in The Burning Plain• Jeff Wells speaks up on the Best Actress race. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • “Black Dynamite” goes to Apparition. [Variety]

    • Behinds the scenes of “The Burning Plain.” [Coming Soon]

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  • Apparition logo

    Bob Berney and Bill Pohlad’s new distribution company got a new name last week.  You’ve read all about it.  Today at a screening of “Bright Star” (which did not work for me — at all — but more on that next week), I saw this image on the front of the press notes.  I imagine it will be the new logo, but I don’t know.  It’s either brave to have a brand this confusing at first glance or really stupid.  I haven’t decided yet.  Plus, the logo implies a reflection, not an apparition, which should, I don’t know, appear more ghostly or something.  What do you think?

    Apparition

  • Apparition will release ‘The Young Victoria’ Stateside

    Emily Blunt in The Young VictoriaBob Berney’s new outfit is filling out nicely, having acquired “Bright Star” out of Cannes, announcing plans to release Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” in 2009 last week and now, snatching the domestic rights to Jean-Marc Vallee’s “The Young Victoria.”  Anne Thompson has the scoop:

    Over the weekend, Apparition closed a U.S. distribution deal for Toronto Film Festival closer The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt in what could be her breakout role carrying a movie as the youngest British monarch. As is typical these days, the new distrib run by Bob Berney and backer Bill Pohald did not put up a minimum guarantee, but rather beat out several competitors (including Miramax, Overture and Roadside Attractions) by committing to $4.5 million in P & A and a 250-screen release. Appariiton will open the movie November 13.

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  • Berney/Pohlad’s Apparition to release Malick’s ‘Tree of Life’

    (from left) Bob Berney and Bill PohladWe can all stop using “Unnamed Bob Berney/Bill Pohlad Company” to classify the domestic distribution of Jane Campion’s forthcoming “Bright Star.”  Apparition, as the new indie distributor is calling itself, had something of a coming out party today announcing the new moniker and, the real newsy item, that Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” will be one of the films domestically released under its banner.

    Bob Berney is one of the good guys, so I was pretty bummed when Picturehouse closed up shop last year, not least of all because it was one more death knell for indie cinema but because a smart guy didn’t have a ship to steer.  The news of a new company, with partner Bill Pohlad, was good enough for me, but only Campion’s film (acquired at Cannes) was in the mix.

    No release date has been set for Malick’s film yet, but the film is surprisingly expected to receive a 2009 bow.  There was confusion for a while in some quarters that Summit Entertainment would be releasing the film in the US, but that company was only ever involved with the international release, I believe.

    Full press release after the jump.

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