When did independent film become so mainstream?
03-03-14, 01:04 PM
#26
DVD Talk Hero
Re: When did independent film become so mainstream?
yep. Nobody wanted to finance "the male stripper movie". Then when Channing Tatum became a star, Warner decided 'what the hell' & picked it up & released it.
Even the Wolf of Wall Street is an indie. No studio would finance it due to the content of the script, so Red Granite Pictures ponied up the near 100 mil dollar budget
Even the Wolf of Wall Street is an indie. No studio would finance it due to the content of the script, so Red Granite Pictures ponied up the near 100 mil dollar budget
03-03-14, 01:07 PM
#27
DVD Talk Hero
Re: When did independent film become so mainstream?
yep. Nobody wanted to finance "the male stripper movie". Then when Channing Tatum became a star, Warner decided 'what the hell' & picked it up & released it.
Even the Wolf of Wall Street is an indie. No studio would finance it due to the content of the script, so Red Granite Pictures ponied up the near 100 mil dollar budget
Even the Wolf of Wall Street is an indie. No studio would finance it due to the content of the script, so Red Granite Pictures ponied up the near 100 mil dollar budget
03-03-14, 02:21 PM
#28
10-07-19, 06:08 PM
#31
DVD Talk God
Re: When did indie movies become so popular?
That’s a little vague. Which one? Not many are financial hits, Many don’t make any money even with high critics ratings.
10-07-19, 06:15 PM
#33
Senior Member
Re: When did indie movies become so popular?
Thanks for the reply. Sorry for being unclear. What I meant was why do so many major award shows and professional critics now seem to prefer indie movies to many other types of Hollywood movies. Is this a new trend?
10-07-19, 06:20 PM
#34
Senior Member
10-07-19, 06:21 PM
#35
DVD Talk Hero
Re: When did indie movies become so popular?
It can also also be argued that the improved quality of digital cameras also helped usher in indies in the mid-90s.
10-07-19, 06:36 PM
#36
DVD Talk Hero
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Re: When did indie movies become so popular?
Because it's safer to spend less on making an 'indie' film for awards than it is to gamble on spending a big budget on a new IP?
10-07-19, 08:00 PM
#37
DVD Talk Hero
Re: When did indie movies become so popular?
I was thinking about that. Digital cameras certainly made things cheaper/easier for independent film makers. Not to mention that with 35mm, it used to be almost impossible to get screen time because the studios had complete control over the distribution of the cans. I remember reading a book about that a long time ago but I forgot the title.
10-07-19, 08:18 PM
#38
Re: When did independent film become so mainstream?
Even though I never saw what the big deal was about the movie, Drugstore Cowboy was one of the first trailblazing Indies that the movie publications wouldn't shut up about.
10-07-19, 09:18 PM
#39
Banned by request
Re: When did indie movies become so popular?
In regards to your comment about the quality of digital cameras, I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Film was still prevalent, and it was far cheaper to still process film than to buy digital cameras in their infancy.
Last edited by E Unit; 10-07-19 at 09:28 PM.
10-07-19, 11:22 PM
#40
DVD Talk Hero
Re: When did independent film become so mainstream?
It started in the latter half of the 80s with critical darling films like Blue Velvet, Drugstore Cowboy, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
But it really exploded in the early 90s with Miramax Films -- Reservoir Dogs and Quentin Tarantino, Clerks and Kevin Smith, The Piano, The Crying Game. Miramax was able to push indie and foreign cinema into the mainstream and turn it into easy Oscarbait.
I mean, shit, look at The Crying Game. That should have been seen by about five thousand people in an art house run, but everyone and their grandmother was talking about it for about six months.
But it really exploded in the early 90s with Miramax Films -- Reservoir Dogs and Quentin Tarantino, Clerks and Kevin Smith, The Piano, The Crying Game. Miramax was able to push indie and foreign cinema into the mainstream and turn it into easy Oscarbait.
I mean, shit, look at The Crying Game. That should have been seen by about five thousand people in an art house run, but everyone and their grandmother was talking about it for about six months.
10-07-19, 11:28 PM
#41
Re: When did independent film become so mainstream?
I remember indie films like SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT, CHAN IS MISSING, STRANGER THAN PARADISE, etc. starting the indie bandwagon going and then solidifying with the one-two 1989 punch of Spike Lee's DO THE RIGHT THING and Steven Soderbergh's SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE. Tarantino added to it, of course, with his first two films. PULP FICTION had the impact and exposure of a mainstream Hollywood film.
