New viewing habits brought on by the rise of streaming have hastened the demise of the mid-budget American indie, changed the very definition of arthouse cinema, and shaken the indie distribution business. But theatrical is still here to stay, attendees of the Macao International Film Festival’s closed-door industry panels concluded Saturday.
Such prestige films may have turned out to be more about PR, prestige awards for the platform, and affirmation for the talent than a real threat to the larger theatrical ecosystem. That’s because screen counts in emerging markets like Asia are continuing to grow considerably, summed up moderator Andy Whittaker, founder ofBut mid-budget U.S. indie films have largely disappeared.
Consequently, the definition of arthouse is changing. “Arthouse used to mean a Korean film that was award-winning. Now, an arthouse film is not a comedy, not ‘Star Wars,’ and everything else. Even mid-budget, $10 million movies are all arthouse,” Whittaker said. Other than for a few exceptions such as “Parasite” and “The Farewell,” audiences these days are less interested in paying transactional fees either at the box office or on SVoD for challenging content that’s neither feel-good nor purely about the spectacle, she said. People are watching, but they prefer to engage with such fare at home for what is perceived as “for free” — via one of their existing subscription services.
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