Bidding farewell to Schamus' Focus

For many still reeling from the news of James Schamus’ recent departure from Focus Features, the company’s latest bulletin has the tenor of a protracted funeral knell. Focus Features International will shut its London offices at the end of the year.  Though cause for hand-wringing and sad-blogging among arthouse aficionados and Hollywood holdouts, this most recent development is by no means unexpected, as the company announced only weeks ago it would close its New York headquarters and relocate all operations to LA. The writing was on a wall that, if slowly crumbling, will soon be rebuilt to the specifications of the new CEO, Peter Schlessel, formerly of FilmDistrict. Under Schlessel, Focus will increase the number of films it releases each year and broaden beyond its characteristic emphasis on specialty fare.

If nothing else, time away from the office is only that much more Schamus can spend with frequent collaborator, Ang Lee. The two have produced some of the best indie films of the past 20 years, including the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain.  The rest of Focus’ output wasn’t too shabby, either. Below, we’ve listed some of the best films released by the production/distribution company. Did we miss anything…?

Top  Films Focus Features Produced:
Far From Heaven (2002)
 
Lost In Translation (2003)
 
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
 
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
 
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
 
Lust, Caution (2007)
 
Eastern Promises (2007)
 
In Bruges (2008)
 
Milk (2008)
 
Coraline (2009)
 
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
 
Somewhere (2010)
 
Jane Eyre (2011)
 

Top Films Focus Features Distributed:
The Pianist (2002)
 
Swimming Pool (2003)
 
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
 
Brick (2005)
 
Atonement (2007)
 
A Serious Man (2009)
 
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
 
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
 

'I Can Do Bad' makes good with $24 million opening

By Sarah Sluis

"Part musical, part love story, part family melodrama, part inspirational treacle," Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself won over the box office with a $24 million weekend take. With a targeted release of 2,255 screens, each auditorium brought in $10,656. While the opening weekend comes in below Perry's February release Madea Goes to Jail, it was 37% higher than The Family that Preys, which opened the same weekend last year. The pace at which Perry releases his films, as well as their popularity, continues to astound me. He's currently filming Why Did I Get Married Too, and will take on a non-Madea project in the fall when he starts filming poetry-play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Not Enuf, which is rumored to have an all-star cast.

Focus Features' 9 brought in $10.8 million, and because it opened on Wednesday, it already boasts a cumulative gross of $15.2 million. The early opening date likely appealed to the primarily male, 12-34 audience, which is known for turning out opening day for event films.

Neither of the genre offerings of the weekend brought in hefty audiences. Sorority Row narrowly beat Whiteout, coming in at number six with $5.2 million to Whiteout's $5.1 million.

On the specialty circuit, two environmentally themed pictures made the biggest impact. No Impact Man, a documentary of a man's attempt to

minimize his environmental impact, brought in a serviceable $7,600 per

theatre at its two locations. The bigger winner was Crude, a documentary about the environmental catastrophe caused by Chevron, which has spawned an ongoing court case and the nickname "Amazon Chernobyl." Its one-screen release brought in $16,595, and $21,823 since its Wednesday open.

This Friday, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs opens in 3D, including an IMAX release, along with Jennifer Aniston-Aaron Eckhart romantic comedy Love Happens, feminist-horror movie Jennifer's Body, and Steven Soderbergh-directed The Informant!

Focus Features goes International

By Sarah Sluis

Yesterday Focus Features announced it's merging its Universal international production arm with its Focus Features specialty division to form Focus Features International. It seems they made this move after receiving a wave of counter intuitive box-office results: films they made for the domestic marketplace played shined, or were saved, by their performance overseas, and international foreign pics played best in the area they came from.

Take In Bruges, the Martin McDonagh black comedy that made a mere $7.7 million in the U.S., but $23

million worldwide. The internationally attuned Hollywood Foreign Press rewarded Colin Farrell with a Golden Globe for his performance, which in turn raises the profile of the film domestically, bolstering interest on DVD. Combining the divisions ensures that Focus Features International will be able to produce/distribute films internationally, and have more oversight of the performance of their films. Ang Lee, whose Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon astounded stateside audiences, did only $15 million in the U.S. with Lust, Caution. Billed as an espionage thriller, it's not wonder the film did $65 million overseas. On a side note, I think the subtitling made this summer's thriller from Music Box Films, Tell No One, for example, more opaque and intriguing than it would be for a Francophone.

Besides these internationally produced films, difficult Oscar fare has played well overseas for Focus--like Atonement and Burn after Reading. Milk, too, which is rooted in American-specific milestones, is currently in release internationally. According to Box Office Mojo, the film released last weekend in Singapore and Spain, and debuted in the top ten in each country. For a film with a $20 million production budget, a nearly $500,000 opening in Spain certainly can't hurt.