Film Company Lines Up Day-and-Date Launches

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Growing up in Cleveland, Nolan Gallagher’s chances of seeing first-run independent films were slim, since many indie distributors opted for limited releases in New York and Los Angeles.

But now, due to an explosion of on-demand platforms – including Internet streaming services, and cable and satellite rentals – almost anybody can watch independent films at home as soon as they’re released in theaters.

Gallagher, chief executive of distribution company Gravitas Ventures in El Segundo, said the simultaneous video-on-demand and theatrical releases can be good for business. He points to the company’s release last year of comedian documentary “American: The Bill Hicks Story” as proof that the day-and-date release strategy can boost sales across all platforms for a film with good buzz.

“That film made 10 times as much because we were able to harness a film with great reviews and make it available ubiquitously,” he said, projecting revenue of $600,000 on video-on-demand compared with $90,000 from two dozen theaters.

The idea is that low-cost social media marketing and good reviews from critics can catapult an indie film to success on Apple Inc.’s iTunes store and other online venues.

“Bill Hicks” was distributed to theaters by New York distribution company Variance Films. Now the companies, which have co-released a dozen films, are planning for more co-releases by jointly acquiring seven to eight films a year and sharing revenue. That deal was announced at last month’s South by Southwest entertainment festival in Austin, Texas.

Gravitas, which releases 500 films per year in as many as 100 million households, receives a portion of each $4.99 to $6.99 cable or satellite VOD rental. Other revenue comes from fixed-term licensing agreements with streaming services such as Los Gatos-based Netflix Inc. or from recouping a piece of revenue from services that air ads, such as those shown on L.A.-based Hulu LLC’s platform.

The still-developing industry has some nuances. Titles with a first letter at the beginning of the alphabet, such as “American: The Bill Hicks Story,” tend to fare better on cable and satellite VOD platforms than those at the bottom due to viewers’ impulses to buy before scrolling through all titles.

After the Variance deal, Gallagher also hired an executive to supervise the firm’s five-person acquisitions team, which sorts through about 2,000 movie submissions per year and attends film festivals.

He said Gravitas generated more than $10 million in revenue last year.

Lee on TV

Stan Lee, whose Marvel comic books continue to spur blockbuster movie franchises, is at it again, this time under the label Stan Lee Comics.

Comic book Stan Lee and the Mighty 7 went on sale earlier this month. But with only 10,000 print copies on the market, the new franchise is no doubt looking to other mediums to drive revenues and toy sales.

That’s why Lee formed a partnership with L.A. production and distribution company A Squared Elxi Entertainment LLC in a deal announced earlier this month at the MIPTV conference in Cannes, France. A Squared Elxi is producing a 75-minute pilot episode based on the first comic with a series forthcoming. The company is also handling product licensing for the characters, as well as animated and live-action productions.

“We saw this as an opportunity to take an icon and give him his own label to bring forth new properties,” said Andy Heyward, an A Squared Elxi co-founder, whose previous credits include executive producer turns on 1990s cartoons “G.I. Joe” and “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.”

In the new comic, Lee has written himself into the action. In the first installment, he ventures into the desert to cure a case of writer’s block and finds a group of aliens-turned-superheroes who become the stars of the comic.

Heyward said he’s lined up TV distribution deals with domestic and international broadcasters for the pilot episode based on the first comic, though the deals are not yet finalized.

The new comic label is a joint venture of Lee’s Pow Entertainment in Beverly Hills; A Squared Elxi; and Archie Comic Publications Inc. in New York, which is publishing the print editions. The three parties split revenues evenly.

Lee’s Pow Entertainment announced last week it will sponsor the second Comikaze comic convention at the Los Angeles Convention Center in September, now called Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo. Comikaze drew 40,000 attendees last year.

From Hollywood …

The Hollywood Reporter is venturing far from sunny Southern California.

The Miracle Mile-based weekly, owned by Prometheus Global Media, has launched its first international edition – in Russia.

Called the Hollywood Reporter: Russian Edition, the monthly Russian-language magazine covers the growing Russian entertainment industry as well as Hollywood. The first edition, featuring George Clooney on the cover, was published March 26 with a run of 80,000 copies.

The Russian employees take cues from the L.A. editorial and design staff, including editorial director Janice Min.

The Russian investment group backing the venture also helped launch the Russian edition of another Prometheus magazine, music industry-focused Billboard, in 2007.

Staff reporter Jonathan Polakoff can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 226.

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