When the Oscars get underway Sunday, it will bring out a parade of executives from well-known companies traditional studios like Paramount and prestige divisions such as the long-standing Sony Pictures Classics.
But the show will also mark a coming-out party for FilmNation, the New York-headquartered outfit of about 40 employees that has quietly transitioned from a niche firm specializing in the sale of international rights to a burgeoning production and financing entity behind one of the season’s biggest breakouts.
FilmNation co-financed and produced “Arrival,” Denis Villeneuve’s cerebral science-fiction movie that is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best picture, director and adapted screenplay. Budgeted at about $50 million, the movie this week will cross the $100-million mark at the domestic box office.
The milestones follow a $12-million sale at last month’s Sundance Film Festival of another FilmNation movie, the Judd Apatow-produced culture-clash romantic dramedy “The Big Sick.”
Together, the two movies thrust FilmNation into the limelight and pose a tantalizing question: can a company unaffiliated with any conglomerate become a powerhouse in the challenging climate of the 21st-century entertainment industry?
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Image courtesy of Los Angeles Times
