Variety’s “The Circuit” column revealed the news that renowned animator and multimedia artist Takashi Murakami will show his short animation piece Planting the Seeds at Cinevegas on June 16th. Murakami is the man responsible for hundreds of wacky googly-eyed mushroom creations, including a 2003 installation at Rockefeller Center (pictured above).What Variety didn’t mention is that the piece will be screened on the Wynn’s already surrealistic Lake of Dreams, a swirling cascade of water and lights that comes complete with animatronic puppets and an expanse of underwater LEDs. (Apple has a profile of Karin Fong, one of the creators of the Lake, and you can see some tortured cell phone videos of the show’s singing frog at YouTube.) It’s all set in the middle of the Wynn Casino, where you can see the show from the various game tables, bars, and restaurants that surround it. This is the kind of chocoloate-peanut butter mixture of venue and film that can separate a festival from the pack. CineVegas could lay back and let their location do more of the work to attract attendees, but they’re aggressively pushing to add that little something more to the experience.Cinevegas has a press release about the screening on their site, and you can view the full schedule in Cinevegas’ B-Side festival community.

Audre Lord said, "there are no new ideas." This idea is rarely more depressing than when reading about the brilliant new ideas Hollywood has for re-using old ideas.

When Iron Man blew the roof off two weeks ago, the big story was how its opening was the second-highest grossing opening weekend ever for a non-sequel. Second-highest for a non-sequel. But only 10th highest including sequels.

I hate to sound like one of those old guys talking about how much better movies were in the 70s. I grew up on 70s movies, and several of my all-time favorites were made then. But I don’t believe movies were better then. What I know to be true is that Hollywood produced more big movies in the 70s based on original ideas. Originality, it seems, is now relegated to the indies. And Pixar. Thank god for those guys.

Some quick facts. From 2000 to 2007, 5 of the top 10 grossing films each year were sequels. 7 of 10 if you include remakes and other derivative works. In 2007, 5 of the top 10 grossing films were third installments (or beyond). Compare that to the 70s: an average of 1 of the top 10 grossers each year was a sequel.

I have a minor obsession with each new grotesque idea to re-do something that’s already been done. I gag at least once a week as Variety reports the latest innovation in re-packaging. And as a result, I read with great schadenfreude every story on the trainwreck that is Speed Racer.

So today was a twofer. First, we get the news that Nic Cage will star in a re-make of The Bad Lieutenant. Sure, it’s Herzog, but this is not a movie that needs to be re-made. And while Cage can cling to former cred from Leaving Las Vegas, Harvey Keitel he is not. When I sent this link to a friend (who wishes to remain anonymous), he replied:

this movie was shit the moment somebody said, ‘hey, let’s remake the bad LT.’ so now, forget about remaking movies from the 50s, 60s, or 70s, they’re remaking movies from the 90s! I got a better idea - how about remaking iron man! Hollywood sucks.

So that’s one. But the virtual ink was barely dry on that story before we got this gem from Cannes: Jan de Bont is bringing his fresh and original perspective to the parachuting-ex-president-mask-wearing-surfer-bank-robber classic Point Break - only this time in Indonesia. I really wish I could make stuff like this up, but it’s all true. Ok, at least that was an original idea when it was first done (I would love to have been in the pitch meeting for that one).

I’ll spare you my thoughts on this, since my aforementioned friend summed it up so eloquently:

Maybe as an act of revenge kathryn bigelow should remake speed, starring jamie fox and jessica Simpson. Come to think of it, they should just remake it with keanu and sandra bullock, directed by Brett ratner, but they should invent a funny role for a wisecracking black guy, and offer it to chris tucker. Maybe they should get jackie chan in there as well, and after brett ratner directs it they should have peter berg reshoot the whole thing, and then john favreau will recut it, and then they should bring in michael bay in post, just to give it that ‘michael bay feel.’ I smell a franchise - a new one, different from the old franchise.

Amen, brother.

A nice little piece from G4 on our Roll Your Own Screening program for Super High Me:

Since this was a smaller, independent film with little to no advertising budget, the innovators over at B-Side Entertainment decided to approach distribution of the film differently. […] If you had a projector, a DVD player, and a few friends you could order a copy of the movie on DVD early and host a screening at your house, apartment, or shady back alley. Thanks to this, Super High Me screened in 1,076 different locations on April 20th, surpassing the 868 theaters that Fahrenheit 911 opened in. Now yes, these weren’t all theaters, so technically no records were broken, but coming from a film with zero marketing expense and no media buys at all, this grassroots campaign appears to be a huge success.

Read the full story here.

Mike Stuckey of MSNBC spoke to Super High Me producer Alex Campbell and I last week. His story published today on msnbc.com looks at the commercialization of 420. While the article takes a skeptical view of both pot-smoking and the varied attempts to cash in on the 420 phenomenon, we get a nice shout-out for our efforts.

Stuckey declares the B-Side Roll Your Own Screening campaign "the most ambitious 420-linked marketing campaign," directly contrasting it with the latest Harold and Kumar. He generously points out that Harold and Kumar distributor New Line Cinema is "a Hollywood powerhouse, a Time Warner company with over $1 billion in annual revenue and deals throughout the entertainment world that include NBC and Microsoft, msnbc.com’s parent companies."

Such devotion to 420 festivities has grabbed the attention of filmmakers with projects about pot, or featuring it. “Totally Baked,” a mockumentary written and produced by comedian Craig Shoemaker, premiered on April 20, 2007, and is being distributed on DVD just after 420 this year.

“Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo,” a comedy featuring John Cho and Kal Penn as a pair of hapless pot smokers, is being released April 25, and will be promoted with a prominent advertising campaign and other 420 content on the High Times Magazine Web site. “Harold and Kumar’s” maker, New Line Cinema, is a Hollywood powerhouse, a Time Warner company with over $1 billion in annual revenue and deals throughout the entertainment world that include NBC and Microsoft, msnbc.com’s parent companies.

But the most ambitious 420-linked marketing campaign belongs to the makers of “Super High Me,” who are giving away DVD copies of the film to anyone who promises to air a public or private showing of it on April 20. The documentary parody of the fast-food film “Super Size Me” follows comedian Doug Benson as he first abstains from marijuana for 30 days and then smokes as much as he can for the next 30 days, taking physical, psychological and SAT tests during both periods.

“We’ve got 401 screenings scheduled right now” for April 20, said Chris Hyams of B-Side, an entertainment technology company that is helping market and distribute the film. “By the time of the event we expect 800.”

Hyams had to talk film producer Alex Campbell into the ploy. “My first instinct was there’s no way I’m going to give this movie away for free,” Campbell said. “I’m an independent filmmaker and I haven’t made any money on it. But he said he then got to thinking that “people are going to watch it, they’re going to love it, they’re going to buy it.”

The interview was barely a week ago, but we’re way past the ‘hoping for 800′ mark, with over 1,000 screenings officially booked.

Read the full story here.

Spent the morning with 101X’s Ray Seggern (aka Raydog) talking about our Roll Your Own Screening program. Ray is a big supporter of the local Austin indie film scene, and highlights filmmakers on a regular basis. The interview segment audio is all posted here.

Anthony Kaufman of Indiewire wrote a great story today on indie digital rights. I was pretty pleased to be included in the story in the company of folks like Liesl Copland of Netflix, Robert Nathan of Cinetic, Jason Janego of Magnolia, and Lisa Schwartz of IFC.

Most people agree that digital distribution will become the most dominant form of media consumption in the not too distant future. Where people tend to diverge in their thinking is just how distant that future is. And where they diverge even further is what to do in the mean time.

The big technology players (Netflix, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon) are investing (read: losing) a ton of capital under the (correct) assumption that they can’t afford not to. Whenever we reach the promised land, if they’re not already there, it will be too late. To be fair, Google (YouTube) is definitely making money, but in a different space (short-form vs. long-form). And even Fox & Universal are now in the mix with Hulu (they are private, but unlikely to be making money yet).

With close to 60% of the total market, Apple today is still the 800 lb Gorilla. But to put that in perspective, last year they sold only 7 million feature films on iTunes. At $9.99 a pop, that’s less than $70 million. Which is less than than the opening weekend gross of I Am Legend - last year’s #6 grossing film. Which means the whole market is roughly $117 million, or less than the opening weekend of Shrek the Third - last year’s #2 grossing film.

So what does this mean for filmmakers? That for the foreseeable future, digital distribution is still experimental. To put it another way, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Currently, the various models include download-to-own, such as iTunes, or subscription-based, such as Netflix. In the age of “freeconomics,” however, as outlined by Chris Anderson’s March 2008 WIRED cover story “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business” (link), “the trend lines that determine the cost of doing business online all point the same way: to zero.” The most successful future model, then, could be simply to give the movies away.

That’s at least what Hyams’s B-Side has been doing in theaters: B-Side has been promoting over 300 free screenings around the country for their most successful title, the music documentary “Before the Music Dies,” in the hopes that it will drive online sales.

[…]

“I don’t believe there will ever be a time when you can just put your movie online and make money,” said Hyams, who believes that a cross-platform approach is integral to getting movies watched and purchased.

At B-Side, that means that we spend most of our time and energy on innovative (we think) approaches to marketing — eg, check out what we’re doing with Super High Me. And we spend the rest of our time and energy on partnering with distributors to pair online distribution with offline outlets — eg, our partnership with IFC.

I do believe the first pure-online million-seller will happen in the next year. But it will likely come from a movie version of Radiohead’s In Rainbows experiment — ie, a known-entity with established brand taking a great film and making it available online only.

The keys there are a) established brand, and b) great film. One thing people often forget is that while digital distribution absolutely does reduce friction in the system, it can’t make something bad turn good. In fact, I believe the online world is more Darwinian, drawing a sharper line between “good” and “bad.” This is true for two key reasons:

1. Audiences are no longer captive. When massive selection and on-demand availability becomes a reality, why would anyone bother spending 90 minutes on something that doesn’t resonate? If I’m bored, I’ll just fire up something else.
2. Viral can mean life or death. Word of moth travels fast for things that are great, and faster for things that suck. This is one that people tend to forget / ignore. The only things that benefit from buzz are the ones people love. You can’t manufacture true buzz.

So, not really big news that the future is uncertain. But Kaufman’s story is a great view into what some of the indie players are thinking and doing.

You can read the full story here.

Our friend Mike Jones at Variety wrote a nice piece on today’s Super High Me announcement.

This is the kind of alternative distribution news that defines SXSW.

Announced at the film’s SXSW screening, B-Side, Red Envelope and Screen Media Films have partnered to distribute Michael Blieden’s stoner doc, “Super High Me,” where the director documents comedian Doug Benson’s journey to smoke pot for 30 days straight while monitoring his medical condition.

In a unique arrangement, the partnership will roll out grassroots screening events, giving free DVDs of the film to anyone that wants to hold their own public screening — with any sized group.

Those interested can go to superhighmemovie.com to “roll your own.” Once they’ve completed the signup, their event will show up on a list of other free screenings. They’ll be sent a DVD and promotion assistance.

The hope is the campaign will fuel DVD sales of the doc.

The idea follows the success of the 2006 doc “Before the Music Dies,” which screened at 300 fan-hosted events across North America.

Anne Thompson, Variety columnist and author of the widely read Thompson on Hollywood blog wrote a great story yesterday (and not just great because B-Side is featured) on the challenges of online distribution. A companion piece to her must-read pre-Sundance story “Sundance Shoppers Beware,” today’s story is titled “Frustrated indies seek web distrib’n: But still face challenging online marketing gap.”

The story explores the question of what options remain for the 100+ features from Sundance that failed to secure distribution.

Once filmmakers make the mental leap that Hollywood isn’t going to offer them a $2 million minimum guarantee, they have plenty of other distribution options, from cable and self-distribution to the Internet. The problem lies in getting the word out to sufficient viewers to convince them to download, stream or pay-per-view the pic.

Thompson argues that alternative distribution models are starting to offer real possibilities for filmmakers. But she also lends ink to my assertion that making films available online is only part of the puzzle.

So far, a large market for selling movies online has not developed. Tiny movies with microbudgets are selling online, but while Amazon, Netflix and others are expending considerable effort in building these marketplaces, this is a nascent business. “The pure online approach is not generating returns,” says B-Side’s Hyams, who has recently partnered with IFC to air five new B-Side fest pickups on “Choice Indies” each month, promoted by 30-second spots both on IFC and online. SXSW discovery “Before the Music Dies” debuts in February.

“Combining different approaches both online and offline allows us to identify things that other people are missing and get them in front of audiences,” says Hyams, who also books and invites B-side members to local screenings — more than 300 in 2007 — and sells both $7.99 high-res downloads and $12.99 DVDs, such as “Four-Eyed Monsters,” on the site.

B-Side promotes eco-horror comedy “Blood Car” on the site, but the filmmaker still owns the DVD rights and a click to “buy now” goes to Bloodcar.com/store.

B-Side is featured throughout the article, alongside the perspective of with Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Cinetic’s John Sloss, and others. The full article can be found here.

With the writers strike finally over, it seems like as good a time as any to get back to the blog. Keeping up with a blog takes time and discipline, and frankly we’ve been busy for the past several months. The next several months will be even busier, though, and I can think of no better way to keep everyone up to date with what’s going on at B-Side.

So I’ll go public with my commitment here to post at least twice a week. I do have a bit of catching up to do first, which means the next several posts will probably be “old” news. Bear with me, it’s all good stuff. At least you’ll see what’s been keeping us so busy.

[ed: OK, that didn’t work out too well. The next several months have been busier. Let’s try that again.]

- Chris

This week’s featured release is one we’ve been excited about for months. Every week we gather around the office projector and watch the latest indie films to come our way. Blood Car - a sci-fi horror comedy about what happens when the price of gas goes up to $30 a gallon - was the first flick ever to receive a standing ovation during an office screening. It’s just that good. It’s the kind of movie people start talking about and they just. Can’t. Shut. Up.

But don’t take our word for it, just ask the audiences of the 20+ film festivals where Blood Car has played and won awards. And take a gander at these here glowing sentences of praise:

“As its title admits, ” Blood Car” is conceptually on the primitive side. What lifts it above most low-budget horror comedies (Troma-tized or not) is the loopy, off-kilter humor director/co-scenarist Alex Orr and collaborators bring to the table. There’s something charming about the feature even at its most cheerfully tasteless …” - Variety

“Awesome. Completely awesome. So far in this festival this is the only movie I’ve seen that I’ve thought was a runaway hit.” - Ten Movies to See Before You Die

“The world two weeks from now is a little absurd, and it must be seen to be understood. Grab a bottle of wheatgrass spiked with a squirt of hemoglobin and let “Blood Car” take you for a ride.” - Film Threat

Our fondest memory of Blood Car is the recent midnight screening at the Austin Film Festival, where an audience fueled by caffeine and other substances hooted appreciatively in all the right places. When the lights came back up, Director Alex Orr and producer Tony Holley answered crucial questions about nudity and meat into the wee hours.

Blood Car is available for purchase on DVD or download from the B-Side store at http://www.bloodcar.com/store/.

- Chris Holland