Friday 23 July 2010

Hollywood Babble On & On #561: Everything Relativity?

Welcome to the show folks...

Two posts, one night, who'd have thunk it.

Anyway, to the business at hand, film financier Relativity Media has just dropped a few million to take over the marketing and distribution operations of Overture Films from its parent company Starz, who are moving out of theatrical features and more into making content for their cable TV assets.

My question is why?

Yes, owning a distribution company is good, I once scolded Relativity Media for spending millions on buying Rogue Pictures from Universal when it had no distribution capability, and nothing more than a name that they tried to turn into a 'lifestyle' brand, and a decidedly lackluster film library.

But here's my point, the original sale offer included Anchor Bay home video and it's very sizable library of cult films, TV shows, and other cinematic assets.

So why buy the marketing and distribution arm, and leave the home video company, and its valuable library, behind?

If you're going for distribution and marketing for your films, why just do theatrical, which is a nightmare if you are not a major studio pumping out blockbuster after blockbuster, and eschew home video?

I'm sure Relativity has their reasons, but I really can't see them myself.

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