Box Office Prophets’ new columnist, Steve Mason, has written an interesting piece about the recent addition of “art house” films to screens at major theatre chains. While this seems like a terrific idea, Mason sees potential disaster:
Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” (Paramount Classics), Robert Altman’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and the documentary about New York Times crossword guru Will Shortz “Wordplay” (IFC Films) are the equivalent of summer blockbusters for specialty distributors. But, a hardly-noticed dynamic involving major theatre chains may be changing the world of art film forever. In fact, specialty distributors like Paramount Classics, Picturehouse and IFC may be sowing the seeds of their own demise even as we speak.
Read the rest here.