Netflix takes movie to theaters
FROM VARIETY: Company signs biggest distrib deal for Sherrybaby
By Steven Zeitchik -- Video Business, 5/31/2006
MAY 31 | Netflix is dropping another movie in an envelope and shipping it ... to theaters.
The online rentailer has made one of its biggest distribution deals to date, picking up rights to Maggie Gyllenhaal-starrer Sherrybaby. The company will handle video distribution and has tapped partner IFC to manage theatrical. The film is released theatrically on Aug. 25 and will bow on DVD Nov. 7 exclusively on Netflix.
The distribution deal is the first announced since former Miramax and Intermedia exec Bahman Naragi, whom the Silicon Valley firm hired in April to spearhead new distribution efforts, came aboard.
The move reflects the company's commitment to picking up distribution for a deeper slate of movies.
When he was hired, Naragi said Netflix would like to be "a bit more ambitious in the titles we would be acquiring."
Netflix has a track record of turning indie films into mainstream hits. It's credited, for example, with generating nearly three-quarters of the video revenue for documentary Capturing the Friedmans. But as it didn't handle distribution, Netflix saw only traditional retail profits.
A larger financial position, execs feel, would sweeten the rewards for movies Netflix is already working hard to promote.
Sherrybaby, the story of a recently released convict, appeared at Sundance this year. It was written and directed by Laurie Collyer and self-financed by Big Beach Films' Marc Turtletaub.
Netflix did not disclose the purchase price of Sherrybaby, but most of the films it distributes are thought to be relatively inexpensive. The gamble on distribution thus represents a smart one for the company: Netflix takes a flier on dozens of movies that don't cost much in the hope that even one becomes a blockbuster.
Last year, the company distributed nearly 100 indie movies. Recent deals have included joint distribution with Emerging Pictures for Cowboy del amor and a co-financing arrangement for the upcoming Kirby Dick MPAA documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated.
