independent film

(Newser) - The Golden Compass took top spot at the weekend box office but fell short of its expected $30-40 million tally, Variety reports. The flick grossed $26.1 million, chump change for a film costing $180 million—and New Line execs didn't hide their disappointment as they touted its sales abroad....

(Newser) - Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in a decade is about an elderly character returned to youth by a lightning strike; indeed Youth Without Youth finds the director making the kind of "personal" film he wanted to at age 25. Having wallowed for 30 years in less than stellar...

(Newser) - Small-budget indie flicks become improbable mainstream successes every year—except, the LA Times notes, 2007. Moviegoers are bombarded with art films that have all flopped, from melancholy war pieces to classy, studio-backed star vehicles. “It's as bad a fall as I've ever seen,” says Focus’ CEO. The problem?...

(Newser) - A new breed of Hollywood players—so rich they don't need studio money—are   financing and releasing slates of small-budget films on their own. Producers like Sam Nazarian, a 31-year-old scion of a wealthy Persian family, and self-made billionaire Sidney Kimmel, 78, are shouldering the costs of a full...