As the independent movie world returns again to Santa Monica for the 2022 American Film Market this week, it is with the air of a surgeon checking out a long-ailing parent. The cinema business, suspended on life support for the past two years due to COVID restrictions, is still far from healthy. and super-hero tentpoles of this world —have done great since theatres reopened, but the market for arthouse and indie films remains shaky.
Even big, star-driven projects with studio distribution —see FilmNation and CAA’s ensemble actioner The 355 with or Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi disaster epicfrom AGC Studios, distributed by Universal and Lionsgate, respectively, disappointed at the box office. With the bright shiny exception that is A24’s
, which recently crossed the $100 million mark worldwide, indie success stories have considerably more modest.
Freud's Last Session (2023) looks promising! Anthony Hopkins and Matthew GoodE indiefilm AFM2022